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by Brainboxy (Pixichan)



Category: B.A.P
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drug Use, Dubious Consent, Emotional Manipulation, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Werewolves, a lot of bad things happened to all of them in the past but like, also the sexual abuse does not happen until the character is of age just to be clear, bap were not the ones doing the past abuse stuff, but frankly its impossible to warn for all of them, enter at you own risk, i did my best to keep it from being to explicit/overwhelming, im just gonna end this with a solid, most things are not super explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-09-20 01:46:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 54,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9470066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixichan/pseuds/Brainboxy
Summary: He knew as an omega it was dangerous for him to be out there alone. Daehyun isn't hoping for a pack or a home; he just wants somewhere where he can be safe for the night.ABO AU where Daehyun is an omega that just lost his entire pack. Scared and scarred, he's distrustful of the house he wakes up in, and the pack within it. No matter how nice they seem, Daehyun does not think this could be his new home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on aff on a dummy account on a dare. If it looks familiar, that's why. I hope you like it!

Daehyun tried to hold in his ragged breaths as footsteps passed by. His room had a small patch of fake floor, underneath which was the cellar he was hiding in. His pack often used it to punish him when he was disobedient, but they would not be able to do that again.

In hindsight, they should have seen it coming. His alpha had always been ambitious when it came to their territory, and more than once he had broken a treaty when he thought his pack could best another in a fight. Ambitious or stupidly proud, Daehyun was never sure. He was sure that he himself would get bruises whenever that pride was hurt, but sometimes he liked to pretend the rest of it was just ambition ― ambition for more land, ambition for more power, ambition for more control over his pack members, and ambition for more submission from him.

“Where did their bitch go?” The footsteps came into his room again and Daehyun held his breath. A pack had come in in the middle of the night and started a fight with this sleepy pack members. He could smell the blood. He knew he was the only one left.

If his life wasn’t actively in danger, he would have been grateful. He had just passed his last heat and he did not think he’d survive through another with the way his pack behaved. The were all territorial, jealous, and vicious. All seemed to have the concept driven into their minds that Daehyun belonged to them and not to the pack itself, and it lead to a lot of pain for him. His heats weren’t frequent, at 23 he had just passed his third, but his alpha had not been pleased with this infrequency, and he had plenty of scars to show that displeasure.

“I can smell him.” A second unfamiliar voice said. Daehyun shivered, but continued to hold his breath.

When the pack had began attacking, he had run from his alpha’s room to his own. His plan had been to dive out of the window and run, and he had gotten halfway out before he realized the broken limbs awaiting him if he jumped. So he had carefully climbed back inside and hid under the floorboards, praying they would leave his pack’s home quickly.

Were they really his pack now that they were dead? Was it really his home if he had no pack to share it with?

“Shut up,” The first voice replied. “I’ve looked everywhere in this room; he’s not here. It only smells like him because it’s his room.” Daehyun’s shoulders slumped in relief.

“But I saw him run in here.” The second voice said. “Where’d he go?”

“The window is open, you idiot.” The first wolf replied. “Clearly he jumped out and ran. Come on, let’s go tell Alpha and we’ll get a run on him.”

The two left his room and he could breathe again, but he could hear them report to their alpha downstairs that he had gone running, and ask if they should fan out to explore the whole territory. If they did that, he wouldn’t be able to run. “Don’t be stupid.” The alpha replies in a deep, gruff voice. “South of here is only fields. If he had taken off that way we’d be able to see him. You three go East, you two go West, and I’ll go North. We’ll find him in no time.”

Daehyun counted to 200 in his head, starting when he heard the six members of the other pack leave. Then he climbed out from his hiding spot and ran. He did not have anything to take with him, no clothes or possessions he was attached too. He did not even bother to grab a pair of shoes because if he was going to run through the grassy field, there was no need for them. He tried not to think about the overwhelming stench of blood and tried to avoid seeing any of the bodies.

“Omega, help me.” A soft whisper came from near his alpha’s bedroom.

He saw him then, still just barely clinging to life as he reached out toward Daehyun, reached out with those hands that had hurt him so many times. Daehyun examined him for a couple short seconds. The gash on his leg was deep and if the bleeding was not stopped he would not make it. Daehyun knew the medical kit in their bathroom had a tourniquet that would save him.

He turned his back and ran out the door.

It took twenty minutes for him to run to the end of the grassy field. At the end, there was a steep rock face. At one point their whole territory had looked this way, but the alphas before his own had put in the effort to slowly flatten it to low hills, with the exclusion of this one cliff. It was about 10 meters high, and he made quick work to climb it. At any point, some pack members might have chose to circle back to his old home, and if they did they would have seen him climbing the rock face.

His hand were red and scraped against the jagged rocks. More than once he slipped on an unstable foothold, cutting up the tough undersides of his feet. Why did they have to attack before the full moon? He wished he could turn, to run as a wolf and get away quicker, but with the waxing moon above him he had no chance of it.

Daehyun just barely clearly the side of the cliff, his hand and feet torn up and his heart racing. He still ran. He could smell the blood still, and worried it had permeated so far that the other packs on their borders would come looking to seize land while it was up for grabs. If they did, he would really be in trouble. The only thing worse than being an omega in a bad pack like his own was being without a pack at all. Sure, some packs would adopt you and keep you as their own, but most had much more unsavory plans.

He kept running. It was all he could do.

It must have been five hours before he finally stopped moving. He wasn’t in his territory anymore. He wasn’t in his neighbor’s territory anymore. He didn’t know where he was. His stomach grumbled and his body ached, and his eyelids were so heavy that he struggled to keep them open. He had found a small cave of brambles and roots in a part of the forest that had more knocked over trees than he could count. He supposed some pack liked to have their members’ first moons happen here, to have their wild and uncontrolled first run destroy an already dead part of the forest. Only a small enclave of three trees remained standing. He did not notice the chains tied around them. The cave was mostly made from the roots of a fallen tree, but over the years new foliage had begun growing on top, making it harder to see. Another tree had fallen in from of its entrance, making it hard to enter, but also impossible to see him.

Finally he could rest.

The sun had reached its peak in the sky before anyone came anywhere near his hiding place. Daehyun remained asleep, so exhausted that nothing short of an earthquake would wake him up.

“I just don’t see why he had to be so cold to us all the time.” Junhong was saying. He and his pack member Jongup had decided to take a walk when Junhong got a little too antsy to stay in their house. “I’m not expecting him to―” He cut himself off, sniffing the air. “Do you smell that?” He asked.

Jongup sniffed as well. “It smells kind of like an omega.” He said, and then sniffed again, “and blood.”

“Why would their be a bloody omega all the way out here?” Junhong asked, following the scents trail. They reached the grove their pack used for their first runs, and Junhong avoided looking at the three standing trees. “You’re better at tracking than me.” He mumbled, and Jongup took the lead in sniffing out the intruder.

“We should go get the others, I don’t know this pack’s smell.” Jongup mumbled, although he seemed to follow the smell rather than acting on his words. It did not take long to find the sleeping omega, hidden amongst the wreckage Jongup believed to belong to Yongguk’s first moon.

“Is he alive?” Junhong whispered. He looked afraid of the omega, who was covered in cuts and bruises, with hair matted down to his forehead with dried sweat.

Jongup reached into the little cave and pressed his fingers against the omega’s neck. “He’s just asleep.” He reassured. “Youngjae will know what to do about this.” He said after a long moment. Together, the two lifted the omega out of his little cave, and Jongup carried him over his shoulder back toward the house.

The two snuck in through the back door, not thinking of the scent trail the omega would leave as they carried him upstairs. “Where do we put him?” Junhong asked.

“The attic bedroom.” Jongup replied. “No one goes up there. We’ll have time to figure this out.”

They did not have time to figure it out before Youngjae came out from his room, drawn by the smell. “What did you two do?” He asked with a small amount of confused horror as he caught them taking the body up to the attic.

“We can explain.” Junhong was quick to say. “He was just lying in the middle of the woods like this. We couldn’t leave him!” Youngjae thinned his lips so Junhong spoke again. “He was close to the route the omega sellers take, 'Jae. If we left him, they would have smelled him when they came by and sold him to some pleasure house.”

“What are you going to do when Yongguk smells him?” Youngjae replied.

“Beg?” Junhong bit his lip.

“We don’t have an omega.” Jongup said, once he had managed to get the omega on the bed in a way that looked comfortable. “Maybe we can keep him.”

“We can’t.” Youngjae replied. “He smells like those Busan transplants’ pack. You know, the one that’s been jacking everyone’s turf a couple miles North of here? We don’t need them coming after us too.” He thought about it. “Clearly he ran away. If they find him here, they’ll think we kidnapped him and want to fight us. How angry do you think Yongguk will be when he finds out?”

"'Jae―” Junhong pleaded.

“All I’m saying is that he can’t know that I knew.” Youngjae’s words gave the both of them a bout of relief. “We should take care of his injuries; they’re bound to get infected like that. Go get a bowl of water and some rags.” He directed Junhong. “Jongup, the med-kit should be in the downstairs bathroom.”

He waited until he had heard the door at the bottom of the attic stairs before he was willing to move closer. Youngjae crouched next to the omega’s side and carefully examined his face. He was nothing short of beautiful, with his long eyelashes spread across his soft looking cheeks and his thick lips that looked like they were already swollen from loving kisses. He wondered what they’d look like after he had been kissed breathless. Youngjae reached out to trail his thumb across them before he was conscious of what he was doing. They were so soft. He wondered if all omega’s had lips that soft.

Youngjae gulped, and quickly withdrew his hand. He could feel his face turning a little pink as he wondered what those lips might feel like against his, and what they’d feel like against other parts of his body. The thought struck him that he could just lean forward and steal a kiss, but something about it felt wrong, so he did not. The omega’s head had lolled to one side, but a dark patch on the hidden side quickly garnered Youngjae’s attention. He was careful as he moved the omega’s head until he had a better view, unable to stop the sympathetic whine when he saw the dark bruise coloring the skin there. No wonder he had ran away.

Youngjae tried to calm down and detach himself when the door opened again. He told himself all omegas were that pretty. He told himself all omega smelled that good. He told himself Yongguk would one day get them their own omega, one that they wouldn’t have to fight dumbasses for. It’s not like they couldn’t take them, it would just be inconvenient.

One day they would have their own omega, Youngjae assured himself. He ignored the voice in the back of his head saying he would not like that omega as much.

Jongup had returned with the med-kit, but he had also brought up an armful of snacks and a glass of water. Youngjae was quick to snatch it from him before it spilled all of the floor. “Why?” He asked, masking his previous wonder with frustration that Jongup had brought up all of these unnecessary things.

“He’s going to wake up soon, he’ll probably be hungry when he does.” Jongup answered. “Just because we have to bring him back doesn’t mean we have to let him starve.”

Junhong was up the stairs not long after, with a bucket full of water and some towels and rags. Once he dropped them, though, he saw Junhong pick out a pair of his pajamas from the pile. “I figured if we washed the clothes he was wearing and put him in my clothes, it might mask the scent a little.” Junhong mumbled.

“That’s―” Youngjae was about to tell him off. “Wait, no, actually that was a pretty good idea. Now, come on, I don’t know how long we have until Yongguk and Himchan come back from whatever meeting they went to.”

The three made quick work of scrubbing his visible skin clean, only ever pausing when the omega would move. They had all agreed it would be easier if he stayed asleep, just due to the fear and panic he’d have when he woke up. The omega was only wearing pajama pants and a thin t-shirt, as if he had run out in the middle of the night while he was asleep. They wrapped his hands and feet carefully, and Youngjae gently massaged his head with a wet cloth in hopes of cleaning off some of the sweat gathered there.

The omega seemed to lean into his touch, letting out a pleased whimpering noise that had all three boys freezing with rosy red cheeks. After a moment, Youngjae put down the now soiled rag he had been working with, and wet a new one. Junhong and Jongup had stopped what they were doing to watch as Youngjae cleaned the omega’s hair, with Junhong biting into his lower lip and Jongup clutching onto the bed sheets. Sure enough, another pleased whine came from the sleeping boy in front of them, and Youngjae visibly gulped even if he continued to clean his hair.

It was right when those little pleased noises seemed to make them all feel unbearably hot that Youngjae stopped. “We should change him quickly and get all of this into the wash.” He mumbled.

There was a sort of nervous thrum of excitement amongst them as Junhong’s nimble fingers pulled the omega’s top off. The feeling was quickly squashed upon seeing the bruises and cuts marring the golden flesh of the beautiful boy they had found. The uneasiness amongst the three was palpable, but none would voice the protective feelings boiling up in their hearts. They covered the tan torso with the shirt Junhong had brought quickly, not really wanting to spend much time sharing space with the marks on his skin.

Junhong couldn’t boil down his nervousness enough to remove the boy’s pajama pants, and so Jongup was the one to do it. He wasn’t quite as dexterous as Junhong was, but he thought to make sure the omega was wearing underwear and he was careful enough not to wake him. It took all three of them to get the new pair of pajama pants on, and then they nervously gathered all of their materials and made their way downstairs. “Are all omegas that pretty?” Jongup asked once they had thrown everything they could into the wash.

“I don’t think so.” Youngjae breathed.

“I hope Yongguk will let us keep him.” Jongup said. “I think he’d be worth fighting for.”

 

For all of their efforts to hide the smell, Yongguk knew the moment he came into the house. Himchan was quicker to comment, but they could tell by the way their alpha’s brow furrowed that he smelled it as well. “Why do I smell something that isn’t pack?” Himchan asked.

“It smells like the missing omega.” Yongguk’s voice was deep and commanding, and all three boys knew they were in trouble. “Where is he?”

“Alpha, please.” Youngjae was quick to talk, addressing Yongguk in a way solely reserved for times like this. “He’s injured. He isn’t well. They were hurting him. We can’t give him back to them.” He gulped at the look Yongguk was giving him, but continued on. “We don’t have an omega yet, Alpha. We could take care of him. He’d be safer here than with them.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Yongguk was rarely so cross with them. “I asked you where the omega boy was.”

Youngjae hung his head, and he and Jongup lead the way up to the attic. “Please, Alpha.” Junhong whispered, knowing Yongguk had a soft spot for him as the youngest. “He’s so pretty and they really hurt him a lot. That has to be why he ran away. He must want to be somewhere where he’ll be treated well. That somewhere could be here.”

“He didn’t run away.” Yongguk replied as they walked up the stairs. “His pack is dead.” The two boys at the lead froze, looking back at him. “The Northerners came and knocked out the Busan pack last night for breaking their treaty. They said whoever found the omega could keep him.”

“So we can keep him?” Junhong asked hopefully.

“No.” Yongguk’s voice was flat.

“But―” It was Jongup that tried to protest.

“We’re not ready for an omega yet.” Yongguk insisted. “An extra pack member is an extra person to feed and clothe and take care of. And omegas need a lot of added attention that we just can’t give right now. Now, move.”

Their eyes all dropped, and they continued their way up the stairs.

When they reached the top, the omega was awake. His wide eyes were open and he had clutched the blanket tightly in his hands as he looked at the approaching pack with fear. He sniffed, and relaxed slightly because the scent was different than that of the pack that killed his own, but the look on the Alpha’s face was enough for Daehyun to know to be afraid.

The bruise looked darker on his cheek now, and his whole form looked frail and small as he moved himself closer to the wall. Yongguk whispered instructions to Youngjae, who stepped forward.

They all had their places in the pack, and this was certainly Youngjae’s. He and Himchan were the talkers, the reasoners, the one ones meant to speak up and deal with others, especially others from other packs. Himchan managed more of the official business, the diplomat travelling by their scary alpha’s side, while Youngjae was more often tasked with using his cute appearance and quick wit to neutralize any negative feelings around them; in this case, the omega’s fear.

“We’re not going to hurt you.” He said in a very smooth, soft voice as he approached the scared omega. “You don’t need to be afraid of us.” He assured, picking up a cuter tone and a small smile. “Our alpha wants to know your name, can you tell me that?” He asked. By this point, he had managed to sit himself on the bed next to the omega without the omega panicking and trying to get away.

“Daehyun.” It was barely a whisper.

“Your name is Daehyun?” Youngjae clarified louder, so the others could hear. Daehyun nodded. “And you’re from the Busan pack?” He asked.

“Not anymore.” The lack of sorrow in Daehyun’s features was surprising.

“Do you want to stay here with us?” Youngjae asked sweetly, even if Yongguk had not told him to. “We’ll take good care of you, and you’ll be safe here.”

“I don’t.” Daehyun’s answer had Youngjae’s jaw dropping.

“A-Are you sure?” He asked. “It’s dangerous out there. This could be your new home.”

“I don’t need a new home.” Daehyun replied. His voice was firming up quickly, and he held himself with a little more confidence. No one would have expected an omega to be so non-submissive. “I’m not staying here.” He said with more firmness than any of them expected.

Youngjae looked back at his pack members shocked faces before he spoke again. “Why wouldn’t you want to stay, Daehyunnie?” He spoke like he was dealing with a fussy child, and that only caused the expression on Daehyun’s face to harden.

“I’m not going to, that’s why.” Daehyun insisted. “I don’t need to go from being one pack’s punching bag to another’s. I’m done with being some bitch for everyone to fight over. And, I’m done with having to act like some submissive, whimpering pet that everyone treats like a fragile child! I’m done with this bullshit. I don’t need a pack. I don’t need a home. Don’t think I’m so easy just because my previous asshole pack is dead. I’ll be gone before you know it.”

Youngjae looked back to Yongguk, completely unaware of what to do. Junhong and Himchan both looked a little hurt, whereas Jongup had simply turned to look at the stairs and hide his expression. Yongguk’s expression was unreadable, but a moment later he was telling them all to follow him downstairs.

“I guess there’s no point in trying to convince you now.” Youngjae grumbled. His voice cracked a little, and, ever sensitive, they could see the beginnings of tears stinging at the corner of his eyes.

“None,” Yongguk agreed. “My final decision has been made and nothing anyone says will change it.” The was a sad pause amongst all of them. Himchan was the only one who seemed calm, outside of his upset at Daehyun’s blunt words, and he had pulled his arm around Jongup’s waist as he often did when he thought Jongup looked upset. Junhong had bent his tall body over so he could cling onto Youngjae, looking away from the whole group in hopes of hiding his sniffles a little. Yongguk’s next words carried so much authority, none of them would think to question him. “He’s staying, whether he wants to or not.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This new pack is strange. So very, very strange. Daehyun does not know how to feel, other than feeling the need to escape.

Daehyun was certain the room he had been placed in was that of a child. The bed laid low to the ground and was so short he couldn’t lay straight on it without his feet hanging over the edge. The sole window had a screen over that could not be removed, though he had tried several times. Even if he could remove the screen, there was a metal grating that both made a pretty pattern and made it impossible for anything larger than his hand to get out the window. There was a dresser by the wall with low drawers, and he supposed if he stood next to it, it would barely be waist high. On top sat discarded toys, wooden cars and building blocks.

Everything in the room was colorful and bright, and he found the sheets under the blanket he was laying on top of had small cartoon animals on them. There was no smell of pups or even of other omegas in the house, so he could not help but wonder why they had this room prepared. Moreover, he wondered why it looked like this room had been lived in many times over.

He was still trying to hatch a proper escape plan, but mostly the only thought he had was to wait until the dead of night and then run out. The only problem with that plan being the high likelihood they would just lock the door and leave him trapped for the night.

The only thing he was certain of was that he did not want to stay. He knew the routine they were playing very well, sending a beta to be sweet and kind to him until he agreed to belong, and then becoming cruel and hurting him once he agreed. That had happened when his first pack had did, back when he was still a pup and it wasn’t even completely certain he would be an omega. That same beta they had sent to be sweet on him until he agreed to stay was the same that spent the next five years of his life advocating they kill him if he did not turn out to be an omega.

“Why do I have to do it?” He could hear the cute beta who had spoken with him earlier whine from downstairs. “He doesn’t like me.” His voice still sounded cutesy, and Daehyun wondered if he just acted like a pup whenever he wanted something.

“Because it’s your job,” Another voice answered. “It’s just a simple question, go up there and ask.”

“Please, won’t you do it for me?” The cute beta pleaded. “If I go he’ll definitely say no, but you might be able to convince him to say yes.”

“Enough.” Daehyun shrank slightly at the voice of the alpha, so deep and commanding. “Himchan, go ask him. Youngjae is right that he did not like him. If you are so set on bothering him, just get it done.”

“Fine.” Daehyun supposed it was Himchan that spoke. He could hear the door to the attic open and footsteps lead up the stairs until one of the betas was in sight. “We were wondering if you’d like to come downstairs and have dinner with us.” Himchan asked him. He seemed to be monitoring the way he spoke, to keep his voice in a monotone.

His stomach growled loudly and Daehyun was faced with a difficult choice. Certainly if he said no, they would leave him up here to starve. He was saving the snacks he had found for once he had escaped, and he still felt lightheaded from how hungry he was. But if he said yes, they would probably think he was beginning to come around. They would probably think he was convincing himself to stay.

He couldn’t stay.

Daehyun was unwilling to go through the pain he had experienced during his last heat again. He was not sure if the bruises on his stomach would ever heal from his pack members trying to stop each other’s seeds from growing, and he was littered with bruises, cuts, and tears elsewhere from where they had had their fun. Maybe worse, it would be two years before his next heat if the previous ones were any indication, and he didn’t want to face the rage of the alpha and the other pack members once more over how infrequent they were. The times they had him then always hurt worse, he thought.

He would not go through that again. If that were the life he was stuck with if he was going to be with a pack, then he would rather be by himself.

“I’d rather starve.” He said. His voice was softer than it had been before, but his words were biting.

Himchan approached him as he spoke, again in that monotone like he was trying to be as not-cute and not-scary as he could possibly be. “Well, I think that would be a little drastic.” He said, and then settled sitting on the bed. “But if you want to eat dinner alone up here, then fine.” Daehyun was honestly surprised they were going to feed him anyway. “But I have a couple questions for you, if you don’t mind.”

“What?” Daehyun felt a little more compliant with the promise of food.

“What were the names of the members of your pack?” Himchan asked. He had a little sparkle to his eyes, like he was playing a game.

“I don’t know.” Daehyun said after a long pause. “I never addressed them by their names.”

“Just as ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’, right? And they just called you ‘omega’?” Himchan asked.

“It was usually ‘bitch’, but yes.” Daehyun mumbled, his face burning a little.

“Well, that is simply unacceptable here. Even if you only stay the night, I am going to have to demand that you call us by our names, or at least put an effort in. I’m Himchan. The beta that spoke with you earlier is Youngjae. The tall one is Junhong and the short one is Jongup. Our alpha’s name is Yongguk, and I’d be sure to remember that. No one calls him ‘alpha’ unless they want something.”

“You call your alpha by his name?” Daehyun nearly shouted in shock. To do so in his old pack would have likely been a death sentence.

“Of course.” Himchan shrugged. “Why would we be so formal with someone who is like an older brother to us? I have another question now.”

“What?” Daehyun was curious now about what other strange new thing this beta would tell him. They thought of their alpha so fondly? This pack was weird.

“Did you pack members ever touch you when they weren’t having you?” Seeing the way Daehyun’s face burned, he decided to explain. “I don’t mean sexually. I mean, did they ever wrap their arm around you to just hold you, or run their fingers through your hair? Did they ever hold your hand or press a kiss to your forehead? Maybe rub your back or brush your fringe out of your eyes?” Himchan asked.

Daehyun remembered when he was a pup, his pack used to do those things, especially the omega that bore him. But why would someone do that to an adult? “No, why would they?” Daehyun asked. “That sort of thing is for pups.”

Himchan had a pleased smile on his face as he shook his head. “It’s definitely not just for pups.” He said. He leaned forward then, so his face was closer to Daehyun’s, and brushed his fingers through Daehyun’s hair. Daehyun fought back a pleased noise that seemed to get stuck in his throat. “I think you’re going to change your mind, Daehyun. I think you are going to want to stay here.” Before Daehyun could object, Himchan pressed a small kiss to the fringe covering his forehead, and then he left.

Daehyun’s face was red as he watched Himchan go back down the stairs, and he almost wanted to cry out for him to come back and continue playing with his hair. It had felt so relaxing, so comforting, why had he stopped?

He laid back down on the bed with a frustrated sigh. Why had that Himchan done those weird things? And why had Daehyun felt good about them? He hated being treated like a child, and yet that wasn’t the feeling those actions had had.

It freaked him out a little to realize that he had been living with a pack for 12 years and never learned their names. He knew the betas had called each other by their first names, but he was always confined to his room or his alpha’s room, so he never heard well enough to learn them. He didn’t think any of them knew their alpha’s name, and thinking of it, he didn’t think he had ever even told them his own.

He told himself that that was normal. He was an omega, why would he know their names? If there were other omegas, he would have known their names, but with the betas and the alpha it would have been out of place and disrespectful.

But then again, those few little memories he had of his real pack, he thought he called everyone by their names. He certainly remembered most of their names. Maybe if he had stayed with his real pack he would have been happier. If only his newer alpha hadn’t been so ambitious. Or maybe it was just stupidity.

Daehyun hated to admit he was a little excited when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs again. Even then, he told himself he was just excited for food, not for Himchan to come be weird by petting him again.

It wasn’t Himchan that came up the stairs though. It was the shorter, muscular beta that he thought looked angry when he had rejected the pack. He was carrying a small tray of food, but Daehyun was wary because of how the beta had looked away when he was rejecting them. Surely, that refusal to even look at him was out of anger, right? Daehyun supposed this would be the moment in which the pain started.

Jongup put down the tray in front of him on the bed, carefully removing the glass of water on it and placing it on the nightstand instead to keep it from getting tipped over. He stayed for a moment, as if he was working up the courage to say something.

“Thank you, be―” Daehyun cut himself off before he could say ‘beta’.

“Jongup.” The beta filed in for him.

“Thank you, Jongup.” Daehyun corrected himself. Maybe Himchan would come back and stroke his hair again if he heard Daehyun was doing what he said.

No, no, none of that hopefulness. Daehyun quickly scolded himself. He couldn’t get caught on the little nice things they did now, not when he already knew it was a trick. The moment he agreed to join them, they would stop being nice to him. Even if it had felt nice, he shouldn’t expect something sweet like that ever again.

Certainly, they would start hitting him soon enough.

While he was in the midst of scolding himself, Jongup seemed to work up whatever courage he had needed to act. Daehyun jumped slightly when his hand touched his back, but Jongup just seemed content with running his fingers up and down his back in a way that was as calming as Himchan stroking his hair. “I really hope you stay here.” Jongup said, his voice very soft and hopeful. He, too, pressed a soft kiss to Daehyun’s forehead, and when he pulled away and smiled, Daehyun thought he saw an angel.

He was left alone for a while after that, presumably while the others had their meal downstairs. In that time, Daehyun was able to fully remind himself of his station, and what he could expect from any new pack, and any new home. He was an omega. Any kindness toward him was expected to be paid for with open legs. They were only acting this way now with the hopes that they could crawl in his bed when their alpha was done with him.

Again he thought that maybe it would have been different if his first pack had not died. He was blood with them, and their seemed to be some affection underlying that. His newer pack had been blood as well, as distant of blood as some had been, and he had been treated as an outsider partially because of that.

Now again, this pack was likely all blood. He did not know why they were all so close in age, but there was little chance they were not related. It was not common to see a pack where the members were not blood, unless a real tragedy had fallen on an area.

The next time the door to his attic roomed open, he found himself cowering. The alpha’s scent was as strong as the first time he had entered the room, and every alarm in Daehyun’s head was going off, telling him that this alpha was not his pack. This was not his alpha. One week post heat, anything stirring inside him would need to be protected from this foreign alpha, and even if Daehyun held no doubts that that was impossible, his body still reacted with fear.

Some of it was reasonable. There was only one reason for the alpha to be in his room, and that was that it was time to be punished into submission. The alpha would no doubt have his way with Daehyun and bite him to cement his pack’s claim on him. If Daehyun did not prove himself submissive, apologetic, and agreeable he would likely be beaten until his attitude changed, and when the alpha was done he would likely allow his betas to come and have their turns with him. Even if he knew to doubt the chance of stirrings inside him, this alpha would likely smell that he had just finished his heat, and make sure there was no chance of it as well. Daehyun didn’t think he could take another beating like that.

“It’s time that we spoke.” The alpha told him as he came forward. High on the endorphins his fear pumped through his blood, he was able to make a quick plan. He waited until the alpha had come and sat on the far end of the bed, making the path to the stairs that much clearer, and then sprang to his feet to run.

Before he could make it even a step, he was crying out in pain and falling to the ground. The alpha had not moved, but Daehyun’s feet were more injured than he thought. They must have spread something on them to numb the pain, but putting his weight on them, he felt it again. How had he managed to keep walking when they were like this? Tears bit at the corners of his eyes at the pain.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t try running at the moment.” In Daehyun’s mind, the alpha sounded smug, but to anyone else it was clearly concern.

Even if it hurt, Daehyun stood and took off again, this time making it a couple steps before he was stopped. The alpha had grabbed him, pulling him by the waist to sit on his lap. He struggled against him with all the energy to get out of his hold, clawing and squirming and fighting, but the alpha still held him. At some point, he seemed to grow frustrated, and threw Daehyun back on the bed. Before Daehyun could get up and run, the alpha had pinned him down, Daehyun’s two wrists in one hand and his legs trapped between the alpha’s. His free hand rested on Daehyun’s diaphragm and pressed just enough to keep him from squirming.

“Calm down and then we will talk.” The alpha did not seem angry, but Daehyun did not trust him. It was at his words that he noticed the tears pouring freely out of his eyes, and the little bit of snot that had accumulated under his nose.  His breath was short. He sniffled and scrunched his eyes shut.

His own alpha had done this once or twice when Daehyun fought him. Normally, he would just be beaten for it, but when his alpha was feeling especially nice, he would just pin Daehyun down until he was calm enough to be had without a fight.

Daehyun knew not to test an alpha’s patience, though, and so he quickly tried to settle his breaths and lessen his tears, and he laid still to show he had given up. Surprisingly, the alpha waited until his tears had completely stopped to act.  More surprising than that, his action was to let go and sit up properly. After a second or so more of silence, Daehyun mirrored the action, sitting up and facing the alpha with apprehension.

“My name is Yongguk.” He said in his voice so deep it sent tremors through his body. “I am the alpha of this pack. I am just here to speak with you.”

“Bullshit.” Daehyun grumbled.

Yongguk sighed. “I am here to offer you a deal, Daehyun. I was going to ask you to try standing, at this point, so that you could see why you should remain off your feet, but it seems you’ve made that clear to yourself without my instruction. My betas all know medicine well enough, Youngjae especially, and he says you have two weeks before it will be safe to walk a lot on those feet again. So that is my offer to you: stay for two weeks. I will give you a room to yourself, food, and clothing, and anything else you need.” His speech was slow and his pauses were definitive, and Daehyun felt as though he was being treated as a child. But given that Youngjae seemed to use the cute voice that angered him on his other pack mates too, Daehyun tamped down any frustration until he knew it was directed only at him.

“And in return you expect me to spread my legs for you whenever.” Daehyun was wise to his scheme.

“No.” Yongguk’s voice was firm. “Over those two weeks you will not be spreading your legs for anyone. I want you to focus on healing, and that won’t be the case if you’re not resting. Instead, I ask for a simple favor in return. Every night, I want you to think of whether or not you would like to join my pack. If, at the end of two weeks, you still want to leave, then I will let you go.”

Daehyun bit his lip and did not answer, so Yongguk continued. “There are added benefits on your side. If you decide to leave we will help stock you for your trip. While you are here, we will provide medical care. And, most of all, right now the Northerners, the pack that killed your own, is out looking for you. You would not want to be found by them, and if you are here then you won’t be.”

“And why would I not want to be found by them?” Daehyun asked. “Won’t they just do the same to me as you would?”

“I think I’ve made it clear that I don’t plan on doing anything to you, Daehyun.” Yongguk was so calm, Daehyun could feel himself getting angrier. “They likely have a pretty distinct plan in their minds, given what they said when we discussed you today. They would likely all have you, and have you dead by the next morning.”

“You don’t think they’d want to keep me too?” Daehyun challenged. “Your pack seemed to fall for me quickly enough, why wouldn’t they? I don’t see why they’d kill a perfectly decent omega. We’re often prizes of won battles.” Daehyun did not like that it was true, but he would admit it to be so. He had already been a prize once, when his first pack was killed and his new pack had won. He had only smelled faintly of omega then, and he was still considered a prize, just one they would have to wait for.

“Why would they want an omega that only goes into heat once every two years?” Yongguk’s calm words bit at his sides. “An omega that just got out of his heat, so the next is probably a full two years away? An omega that just got out of his heat, and make have caught some of the seeds of his previous pack? Why would they want you?”

“Why would you?” Daehyun shot back, a little off put by Yongguk’s bluntness.

“I don’t really care those things.” Yongguk replied. “Especially not when I know all of them will prove to be false. My younger betas saw your stomach when they changed your clothes, there’s no way anything could be growing in there, is there? After all of that? As for your heats, what does it really matter? We are interested in you as a person and a wolf, not as a pup-machine. I have no doubts they would be more frequent here, regardless. If I were concerned with having pups at the moment, wouldn’t I have an omega here already?”

“Why would they be more frequent?” Daehyun asked. He felt uneasy. His heats were an unpleasant time, to put it kindly. He would not want them to come more often.

“Because you will feel safe here. You will feel cared for here.” Yongguk replied, as if it was common knowledge. “From what I gather about your previous pack, even just from looking at your injuries, I can suppose it was stressful and scary. Stress has rather strong effects on the body, I of all people would know.”

“What do you mean by that?” Daehyun asked.

“I had my first run at 16.” Yongguk replied. “It was a stressful time, and so I matured earlier.” It was rather unheard of for anyone to have a first run before 17. Daehyun could only think of one other person who turned so young. “Still, as I’ve said, all of that doesn’t really matter to me. If you were to have your old pack’s child with you, I would not stop you from bearing it, and we would raise it as you please. If your heats remain as is, I will have no complaints.”

“Then what is important to you?” Why else would someone take an omega? That second question, doubting his worth, was left unspoken.

“My pack all share three things in common, and they are three things we share with you as well.” Yongguk replied. “The first, and I’ll admit the least tying, is that all of us spent our first nights in this house locked in this room. You will as well. The second is that all of our packs are dead, just as yours is. We are all sworn to each other not by blood but bite.” Yongguk paused his speech to show his arm. The upper portion was marked with ink, but his forearm had four distinct, small bites. Daehyun was surprised, it was rare for an alpha to let himself be bitten.

“You let them bite you?” Daehyun breathed.

“Of course. I am theirs as much as they are mine. You can tell it’s from childhood, with how small they are.” Yongguk said fondly. “Still, our packs are dead and so is yours. If we are a pack of orphans, then you surely belong with us. Unless there is some pack back in Busan that would call you their blood?”

Daehyun shook his head. “They were killed when I was young.” He said softly.

“Then we share that. Finally, I asked every single member of this pack on their first night, here, in this room, to join my pack and make this their home. And each and every one of them told me to fuck off, that the would never have a pack or a home again, and that they’d rather starve than have dinner with me and the others. That sounds familiar, does it not?”

Daehyun’s face burned red. “It does.”

“Then it’s fate.” Yongguk insisted.


	3. Chapter 3

“Are you sure this plan is going to work?”

“He doesn’t want to stay with us because he thinks we want him to be our omega. He’s scared because he thinks we want to fuck him.”

“We do.”

“Yeah, but if he thinks we don’t, then he’ll let his guard down. He’ll be less afraid. If he feels safe and we keep up the gentle touches, his rebound heat might hit within the month. Then we just make him ours.”

 

Daehyun did not sleep well that night, locked in his worries. He kept waiting to hear the lock click open and footsteps lead up the stairs, and yet the sounds were absent the entire night. He heard doors open and shut more than once, but never his own. No one came for him. He had been instructed to knock loudly if he needed anything, and so he spent the entire night in fear of making the smallest sound that might call someone to his room.

By the beginning light of morning, he was so exhausted that he faded in and out of sleep, caught in fitful, realistic dreams of his old alpha coming for him, filled with rage that Daehyun had left him to die. He dreamed of being beaten, of his blood soaking the sheets and pooling on the floor, and each time he came to reality, he found himself drenched with sweat and alone. In those hazy moments, he had a hard time realizing it was sweat and tears covering him, not blood, and felt his heart pound so hard it might rocket out of his chest.

When the sun had begun to turn the attic room golden, he finally heard the lock click open. Daehyun was certain it was another nightmare as light steps carried their way up the stairs, but it was no alpha coming for him.

It was the tall beta, Daehyun had forgotten his name. He smelled a lot better than Daehyun remembered. He seemed to be hesitant, nervous. He moved slowly and kept his eyes low until he had reached the top of the stairs. When he saw Daehyun was awake, he seemed to grow more nervous.

“We were wondering if you’d like to have breakfast with us.” He said softly, staying close to the stairs as if he was afraid of Daehyun. Daehyun, who could clearly smell that the boy was a rather strong beta, found that incredibly odd. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, though.” He shifted awkwardly.

“I can’t walk downstairs.” Daehyun replied. It wasn’t a ‘no’, just a moment of curiosity on how the beta would reply.

“I could carry you.” The beta offered, with nervous, red cheeks. “Or, um, I could get one of the others to come carry you if you’d rather.” He mumbled.

“Would you be upset if I said I wanted someone other than you?” Daehyun pressed.

The beta only looked confused. “Why would I be upset about that?” He asked, his voice a little more sure than before.

Again, Daehyun could not help but think this pack was weird. In his previous pack, he couldn’t so much as look at someone without the others getting jealous and starting a fight. This pack seemed so different that he was starting to believe it couldn’t be an act. “What was your name again?” Daehyun asked.

“Junhong.” The beta answered. Daehyun motioned him over in a way that would have gotten him beaten in his old pack, but Junhong just came and stood but the bed. He still seemed quite nervous. His hands were shaking. Daehyun motioned for him to sit and he did. Again, he was amazed because he certainly would have been beaten by his old pack, by any pack, for how he was acting. Junhong smelled so good. Daehyun wanted to bury his face in his neck. He didn't. It would have been weird.

“Do you like it here, Junhong?” Daehyun asked. Yongguk had said no one in this pack was blood with one another. He had said no one had wanted to join when they showed up. So why had they?

Junhong smiled a little. “I do.” He answered. “Everyone here is like family to me. Even if we aren’t blood, I love them more than I ever loved my old pack. Hell, I barely remember my old pack, all I really know about them is they were bad enough to make me think I was better off on my own for a while there.”

“If you thought you’d be better off on your own, why did you stay?” Daehyun asked. What had Yongguk done to convince all of these people to stay?

“I don’t know, I was seven.” Junhong answered. “My pack and pretty much every other pack in the area was dead and Yongguk brought me food. It was only him and Himchan back then, but they were really nice to me. I mean, Yongguk’s never been particularly affectionate, but like, he takes care of us and we know he loves us deep down. He just sucks at showing it and—” Junhong cut himself off for a moment. “And Himchan took really good care of me and he’s really affectionate and nice. It just seemed like the best decision at the time, and looking back, it definitely was.”

“Why did they want you to stay?” Daehyun asked.

“Probably mostly because I was a seven year old living in a house full of corpses and slowly starving to death.” Junhong answered. His voice had grown small, and he looked away like he might cry. “They were like fourteen so at least they could take care of themselves, but like, I was a little kid. I didn’t even know how to tie my own shoes.” After a moment, he took a deep breath and looked back. “But also, they were trying to get all of us surviving kids together so we could keep as much land as possible. If I joined them, they got my old pack’s territory.”

“What do you mean?” Daehyun asked. He could feel Junhong's body heat, and had to resist some urge to get closer to it.

“Well, like, technically as long as one member of a pack survives, the surrounding packs still have to honor their treaties. The pack member has to find a new alpha for it within a year if they aren’t an alpha themself, but Himchan managed to negotiate the others into letting us keep the land until we all had our first runs, and then if one of us was an alpha we’d keep it and if none of us were we’d join the neighboring packs so they all got a piece of the territory.” Junhong shrugged.

“Does that mean the land my pack owned is technically mine right now?” Daehyun asked, realization hitting him. It had seemed so weird that they wanted him to stay when they didn’t care about his heats or having him.

“Yeah, although the Northerners are currently occupying it on the grounds that supposedly no one’s found you, so you might be dead.” Junhong replied.

Daehyun couldn’t fight the smile covering his lips. “I’d like to have breakfast downstairs today.” He said. He was absolutely giddy, really, and he had a proposal he was absolutely sure Yongguk would agree to. This was pack was different than his old one, but they were the same in one familiar way.

Junhong smiled too, although he seemed quite confused at the change in Daehyun’s demeanor. “Sure, climb on my back.” Daehyun was a bit surprised that Junhong didn’t plan to carry him over his shoulder or cradled in his arms, but supposed that of course he wouldn’t want to. That wasn’t why they wanted him after all. It felt good to be close to him. Daehyun tried to convince himself it was just the giddiness.

Downstairs, Daehyun plopped down into a chair across from Yongguk, not noticing the nod or the look Junhong gave to Yongguk and Himchan. He went then to sit next to Youngjae, and the two whispered together like they were telling secrets. Daehyun didn’t know they had met that morning to discuss strategy. He didn’t suspect a thing. They all smelled really good.

“You decided to join us.” Himchan sounded pleased, and Daehyun couldn’t help the small blush on his face when Himchan began playing with his hair. He had forgotten overnight just how good it felt. He didn’t want that physical affection to stop when he announced they had figured it out, but he began speaking regardless.

“Yongguk” Daehyun called, getting a hum in response. “You don’t want me here to be your omega, do you? You don’t even really care if I stay passed two weeks, right?” He asked.

“Why would you say that?” Yongguk asked.

“Because right now I technically own my pack’s land. Whoever’s pack I join now gets it, even if I leave later. That’s why the Northerners would claim me before they killed me, and why you’d let me go. You just want the territory, don’t you?” Daehyun couldn’t fight his smile. He was really safe with this pack. They didn’t want to have him at all. They’d really let him go. He would be able to leave! Himchan’s hand dropped out of his hair, and Daehyun couldn’t help the way his smile faltered. He felt a little cold.

“I told you he was smart enough to figure it out.” He heard Youngjae grumble.

“Something tells me he’s not upset though.” Junhong mumbled back. “Weird.”

Himchan looked to Yongguk, who nodded at him, before he spoke. “It’s true.” He said. “Now, that isn’t to say we’d be opposed to you staying if you wanted to, or that we won’t make good on the promises Yongguk made last night, but—”

“I want to make a deal.” Daehyun asserted. He was so relieved, and so proud of himself. “Or add to the deal we made yesterday, whatever.”

“And what would that be?” Himchan asked.

“I’ll stay for the two weeks, or even a whole month, if it takes that long to get the treaties written. I’ll play along and do whatever you need me to do to convince everyone I’ve joined this pack, except sex. I’ll even come back occasionally when other packs are visiting you to convince them I’m still part of your pack.”

“And in return?” Himchan asked.

“Outside of when we’re tricking other packs, none of you are allowed to do anything to me unless I say it’s okay. You can’t touch me or do anything else unless you ask and I say yes. And once all of your treaties are worked out and everyone is well convinced, you give me my pack’s old house, and all of you stay away from me. That house will be my territory and everything else will be yours. From then on, you leave me alone unless another pack is coming and they seem doubtful.”

Himchan leaned toward Yongguk, and began to whisper, only for Yongguk to cut him off. “You will come back here whenever another pack is visiting, regardless of how doubtful they seem. In return, we’ll bring you groceries and make sure no one goes near the house when you’re in heat.”

“Deal.” Daehyun replied.

“Deal.” Yongguk agreed. “Junhong, after breakfast, send the messenger birds out with letters informing everyone that we’ve found him. Have the Northerners come today if you can, and schedule everyone else in for treaty talks too.”

“I told you he would figure it out.” Youngjae asserted to Yongguk. “I still can’t believe you seriously thought you could trick him.” Daehyun was somewhat relieved that despite their ploy being revealed, the members all seemed to stay rather casual with their alpha.

“I never thought he wouldn’t.” Yongguk replied. “I just thought it would lack a bit of tact to come forward with all of that right away, especially since at first we weren’t sure if he’d want to actually join us or not.”

“So Daehyun,” Himchan said awkwardly. “Does that mean I can’t keep playing with your hair?” He asked.

Daehyun tried to sound nonchalant when he spoke, and failed miserably. “No, you all can keep doing that sort of thing, I don’t mind. Just nothing sexual.”

He had to fight the pleased noise bubbling up in his throat when Himchan went back to playing with his hair.

“By the way,” The authority of Yongguk’s deep voice drew his attention and made his heart pound just the slightest bit, “the parameters of our previous deal still apply. I’m not fond of leaving people to get sick or die, I must insist that you let us take care of your injuries. It’s still within our priorities to make sure you heal well.”

“That’s okay with me,” Daehyun mumbled, slowly giving in to Himchan soft touches. He froze for a second when Jongup, all but silent on his other side, began stroking his back as well. Without even realizing it, his eyes fluttered shut.

“So, then, how about you let someone look at your injuries after breakfast?” Yongguk asked.

“Youngjae should do it.” Jongup chimed in. “He’s the best at medicine anyway. Junhong needs to send the notices out and the merchants are supposed to come through today, so I need to go meet with them.”

“That’s fine.” Daehyun didn’t really care. “Can I take a bath first? I’m all sweaty and gross.” He was too relaxed, eyes closed and mind blank, to think about his words. Sightless, he missed the blushes on the younger betas’ cheeks.

“Of course.” Himchan was the one to answer him. “Your hands are pretty torn up though, so if you need any help, just ask us.”

 

He managed to wash himself almost entirely on his own, despite how much it stung his hands. Even if they didn’t want him, Daehyun was still the slightest bit wary of this pack. It was all just so weird, he both couldn’t believe it could possibly be an act and also believed it had to be. Regardless, he didn’t want to be naked in front of any of them.

But, when it came time to wash his hair, his hands stung with the shampoo and stung with the strands and it was so quickly unbearable that he gave up almost immediately. “Hey, is someone out there?” He shouted. There was supposed to be, in case he needed help.

“Just me.” It sounded like Youngjae. He never could quite rid that cute tone from his voice.

Daehyun pulled himself out of the bath. He sat on the bath mat and began drying himself quickly with a towel. “Don’t come in yet.” He warned, ”would you mind helping me wash my hair in a little bit?”

“Sure, but, um, would you mind wrapping a towel around your waist or putting on some underwear or something?” Youngjae asked from the other side of the door. Daehyun was relieved. They really didn’t want him.

“I’m drying off right now, then I will.” Daehyun assured. He cursed under his breath when he noticed the blood on the towel. His hands were bleeding, and a couple of his other cuts as well. He wrapped the towel around his waist and then called out, “you can come in now.”

Youngjae seemed a bit hesitant when he walked in, his lips thinning when he saw the blood on Daehyun’s hands. “You should have called me in when your hands started bleeding.” He said softly. “Let me see.” Daehyun offered his hands and Youngjae examined them carefully, running his fingers over the non-injured skin in a way that Daehyun found relaxing. “They should be fine until after your hair is washed, unless you want me to take care of them now,” Youngjae murmured.

“After is fine.” For some reason, Daehyun murmured back instead of speaking at full volume. He adjusted how he was sitting then so his back was leaned against the edge of the tub and his head went over it’s side. Youngjae lightly pushed and pulled him as he did, helping him get into a position where nothing would spill out of the tub. He got his hands wet and put some shampoo on them, before gently rubbing at Daehyun’s scalp.

Just like they had before at breakfast, Daehyun’s eyes fell shut. His lips parted slightly, and Youngjae felt himself getting hot just like before. For someone so obstinate about not joining them, Daehyun was so desperate for affection, and reacted so intensely to even the littlest bit of gentle attention.

He took the time to stare at Daehyun’s pleased expression as he washed his hair. His skin looked soft and had a small glow to it and his lips looked so inviting, more swollen than they had been the day before. Again, Youngjae wanted to see what he looked like after he had been kissed breathless, wanted to know what those lips would feel like with his own. But he held back, they had a plan. He just stared at those pretty lips. He did not act. It was all a matter of patience, and a matter of time, and at least for now he got to see Daehyun looking like this. At least for now it seemed like Daehyun didn’t hate him as much as he hated him last night.

At some point it seemed Youngjae had stopped focusing on Daehyun’s hair and started massaging his head instead. Maybe he shouldn’t have, and maybe Daehyun should have asked him to stop, but both seemed content with letting it happen. The only problem was Daehyun’s inability to hold back his pleased little noises or stop himself from leaning into the touch. Still he was oblivious to how red Youngjae had blushed, how he bit his lip and kept going solely with the intent of more of those sounds.

Daehyun couldn’t stop himself from whining when Youngjae stopped, either, although his eyes did open wide and one of his bleeding hands quickly covered his mouth. “Sorry.” He mumbled.

“Don’t worry, I get it.” Youngjae answered as he rinsed out Daehyun’s hair. He spoke in that same cutesy tone Daehyun had heard him use several times over now, like it was the way of speaking he naturally reverted too. “My old pack wasn’t really affectionate either. When I got here and Himchan started, well, being Himchan I guess, I had a lot of those moments too. Seriously, he’s never been able to keep his hands to himself. He can maybe manage for like five minutes and then he starts clinging to whoever is next to him again.”

“Just like you can’t stop yourself from speaking in that cutesy voice, right?” Daehyun asked.

“Sorry.” Youngjae replied, and Daehyun liked how his cheeks turned pink. “It’s a habit.”

"It’s okay.” Daehyun replied. “So long as you’re not just using it on me, and just using it on me because I’m an omega, I don’t mind.” They were quiet for a bit as Youngjae washed the suds out of his hair. “Why did you stay here? Yongguk made it sound like no one wanted to join when they first got here.” Daehyun asked again. Junhong’s answer made sense for him, but why did the others stay?

“I was pretty sure one of us would be an alpha, and I wanted to keep my pack’s land.” Youngjae answered. “The pack I came from was really focused on medical stuff, and we had a whole big library of books on everything related to that. Not long before they came to get me and drag me out of my house, I was reading a book on alphas and what their origins were. People think we aren’t naturally predisposed to be a beta or an alpha, that alphas just pop up wherever a leader is lacking, especially when the protection is need. So, you know, we’re a bunch of pups, we’re all stressed because we don’t want to lose our homes, we have no leader, etc — it all leads to one of us becoming an alpha, and then we get to keep our land.”

“Wouldn’t you get to keep it anyway?” Daehyun asked. “The deal was that you join another pack and they take your land, so technically you still have it, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but originally I don’t think any of us really thought we’d be a pack once an alpha popped up.” Youngjae replied. “We all came into this thinking we’d stand each other until one of us became an alpha, and then we’d all go home and stay away from each other.”

“So why did you become a pack?” Daehyun asked.

Youngjae shrugged. “I don’t remember — it just felt right. I don’t think we made it a whole month before we decided to bind ourselves with the bite.”

Daehyun sat up, and Youngjae started drying his hair. Daehyun stopped trying to fight the pleased little noises he made, just letting them happen. If Youngjae understood, it didn’t matter.

They were silent the whole time, and when Daehyun opened his eyes, he found Youngjae blushing as he fiddled with the towel in his hands. “Let’s take care of your hands then,” Youngjae mumbled, his fingers trailing down Daehyun’s arm gently to his wrist.

“Did I mess them up too bad?” Daehyun asked as Youngjae cleaned them up with a wet cloth.

“No, they’ll be fine.” Youngjae reassured. “They don’t even need stitches like your feet did.” He finished cleaning them, then grabbed a small hardcover kit from the bathroom cabinet and settled next to him again. He rubbed some salve from the kit over the wounds. It stung. Daehyun hissed. Youngjae wrapped the wounds.

“How long will they take to heal?” Daehyun asked.

“You’ll have to worry about opening the cuts for the next week or so, after they won’t be fully healed but you won’t have to worry anymore.” Youngjae answered, moving down to Daehyun’s feet. He unwrapped the bandages and examined the wounds there. “Your feet, on the other hand, will take two weeks at best, probably more like a month. I had to give you stitches, which means I’ll have to take them out later on.” He rubbed the cloth over them briefly, cleaning up the little bits of blood left over, but he rubbed the salve on them and wrapped them again.

"It’d probably be better if I stayed the month then.” Daehyun replied, “not just for the treaties, but to make sure they’re healed as well.”

“Probably.” Youngjae agreed. He seemed to hesitate. “I’d suggest staying the month. Is there anything else that hurts? I can take a look at any other injuries you have to make sure they’re healing right.”

Daehyun gulped, and seemed to think for a long time. “Does… Does that include more omega-based things?” He asked quietly, his face turning red.

Youngjae’s face took on the same bright red color as he stuttered out a reply. “If you need me to, I can.”

Daehyun dropped his gaze, eyes locked on the bruises on his stomach. Usually they were more faded by now, his pack had been worse to him than they ever had in the past. And now his body felt weird. It felt like something was different ever since he ran out of the house. “I’m worried they broke me.” He said quietly.

“Why?” Youngjae replied.

“They’ve always, I guess it’s normal, um, to try to kill anything that isn’t yours, but—”

“Okay, I’m stopping you right there.” Youngjae cut him off. “That’s not normal, no one should try to kill anything inside you, especially not when it’s pack. Even if it isn’t yours or whatever, it’s pack. You don’t kill members of your pack, especially not unborn pups.”

“Okay, so it isn’t normal, but it was normal for them, and I was pretty used to it I guess. I knew what it would feel like and all, but it hurt a lot more this time. And now I feel weird. My insides feel weird. What if I’m broken?” Daehyun’s embarrassment was quickly lost to his concern.

Youngjae chewed his lip for a couple seconds, as if he was thinking about how to go about figuring it out. “I guess, to start with then, did you bleed a lot after? I’m sure they didn’t stretch you very well since they’re idiots, so you must be used to bleeding a little after, but was it a lot more blood this time?”

“I don’t think it was much more than usual.” Daehyun answered. “What do you mean by ‘stretch you’?”

Youngjae blushed a little harder. He gulped. “Like, you know, with their fingers. To make sure you were open enough before they, um, before they had sex with you.” Daehyun’s confused look made him keep talking. “They did that, right? They’re supposed to, um, to stick their fingers in you, umm, slowly, um, to make sure it doesn’t hurt when they, you know, put themselves in you. They did that, didn’t they? At least when you weren’t in heat?” Daehyun’s confusion turned to shock. “Did the at least wait for you to adjust?” Youngjae asked, clearly horrified.

“Every once in awhile, if I was crying hard enough.” Daehyun answered. “Why would they do that with their fingers though?”

"So that it doesn’t hurt.” Youngjae looked like he might cry a little himself.

“It’s not supposed to hurt?” Daehyun asked.

“It’s definitely not supposed to hurt!” Youngjae’s voice raised a bit. “No wonder you were so afraid of us, holy shit. If they weren’t dead, I would kill them.” He took a deep breath. “Okay, they’re worse than I thought. But there wasn’t extra blood?”

“No.” Daehyun said. “It was the same as always, just until it healed a bit.”

“Did you get a lot of sharp pain even when you weren’t doing anything, and do you still get it now when you move?” Youngjae asked.

“No. Just when something touches my stomach.” Daehyun replied.

“That’s the bruises. So, you’re fine. Even if your pack was probably the most horrible, awful pack on the planet, you’re not broken at all on the inside.” Youngjae assured.

“But my insides still feel funny.” Daehyun answered.

"Funny how?” Youngjae asked.

“Like, really warm. I feel mushy. As of this morning, everything started smelling really good and all the touching feels really good. Like, it felt pretty good yesterday, but now it feels extra good. And even though you guys aren’t pack, you smell so good.”

“You mean like you’re in preheat?” Youngjae asked.

“No, my preheats don’t feel anything like this.” Daehyun mumbled. “I just feel really cold and alone during those. Typically, I get really panicked and afraid — this is the opposite. Instead of wanting to run away from everyone I want to be close to them.”

Youngjae’s jaw dropped. “Okay, that’s not how your preheat is supposed to feel and — shit, okay, I wasn’t supposed to tell you about this, but fuck.” Youngjae said. He backpedaled a moment, although Daehyun was half sure he was lying, “we didn’t want to tell you because we thought it would freak you out and you’d try to run. We didn’t think you’d be here long enough for it to happen.”

“What?” Daehyun questioned.

“Where do I even start?” Youngjae asked himself. “Ok, to start with, no omega goes into heat once every two years. That’s way too infrequent. The longest a cycle should last is six months. But, when an omega is stressed and scared, and when they think the life of any pup they had would be in danger, their heats can get more infrequent, and stretch the cycle to be up to like three years, maximum. You felt like that, right?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Daehyun said. “I was always really scared during my preheats, and I knew if anything stirred one of the pack members or Alpha would just kill it because it wasn’t theirs.”

“That’s why your heats were infrequent.” Youngjae said. “From now on, regardless of where you go, they’re going to come more often. Somewhere in the every month to ever four months range is normal. Given that you didn’t stretch to three years despite how awful they were to you, I’d guess you’re going to be in the more frequent range.”

Daehyun looked horrified, like he might cry. “Please no,” he whimpered.

“We promised we’d keep everyone away from you during your heat.” Youngjae reminded. “Even if you decided to take someone, it would probably be one of us, and we would all make sure it felt good. None of us would hurt you.”

“Will that finger thing really work?” Daehyun asked.

"Definitely.” Youngjae asserted.

“I still feel really scared, cold, and alone during my heats, though. I can’t stop crying and everything hurts.” Daehyun said.

“That’s during your stressed heats.” Youngjae replied. “Which I guess brings us to the second part of this, not only are your heats going to be more frequent, they are going to feel really different. You’re preheats are going to change too. Instead of feeling the way you said, you’re going to feel really warm. Everything is going to feel really, really good, and you’re probably going to be a little desperate for people to be close to you and show you affection. They’ll probably last a lot longer too, especially if people are taking care of you and cuddling with you, preheats can last a really long time. I cannot stress this enough, if you are in preheat, you need to stay close to someone, otherwise your heats are going to go back to being painful and miserable.”

"Why?” Daehyun asked. He was horrified, at the moment.

“Because your preheat is a time in which your body is figuring out if you’re safe and being cared for, to make sure you’d survive pregnancy and your pup would have a chance at survival. Even if you aren’t going to have anyone, you’ll have a negative reaction if it thinks you aren’t in a good environment or wouldn’t survive.” Youngjae replied.

“So, I’m going to start feeling really warm and clingy, and everything will start feeling really good?” Daehyun asked. Youngjae confirmed. “You mean like how I’m feeling right now?” His voice raised a bit, filled with shock and worry.

“This might not be it.” Youngjae assured quickly. “This could also just be a reaction to being in a safe environment, okay? It’ll probably just go away for a couple days. Even if it were your preheat, it would last at least two weeks before your heat actually came. You just got here, we’re new to you, your body is going to take the time to make sure you’re as safe as it thinks you are.”

“But my heat was a week ago, it shouldn’t be every other week, right?” Daehyun shouted.

“No, it shouldn’t, but—” Youngjae sighed. “I really am not supposed to be telling you about this. Yongguk and Himchan are going to lecture me for about four hours over this.” He groaned. “We thought you’d be gone before it could happen, okay? But there’s this thing. It’s called a rebound heat. When an omega joins a new pack, regardless of how shitty their old pack was, they typically will go into heat again, so long as they aren’t pregnant. I don’t know why, it’s just like a thing people have observed a hundred million times or something. Even if you don’t plan on staying here, your body doesn’t know that. All it knows is that your pack is dead and you are here with a new pack.”

"So I might go into heat soon?” Daehyun asked, in a small little horrified voice.

Youngjae couldn’t stop himself from wiping away the couple tears falling down Daehyun’s cheeks. “I promise we’ll take good care of you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the Northerners come to claim their prize, Daehyun finds there might be reason to worry after all.

Daehyun had requested some time to rest while they waited for the Northerners to arrive, after the pack had replied to Junhong’s note, saying they would be there by mid-afternoon. He had gone up to his room not long after Youngjae had treated his injuries with a book Youngjae had given him on omegas and how their bodies worked. Within an hour he had found himself to be dreadfully cold, even with all of the blankets on him and the window open to let in the warm summer air.

“Hey, is someone nearby?” He had called out, hopefully. He would ask for some more blankets only, he told himself, as much as he wanted to ask for the physical attention Youngjae had said was necessary.

Thumping footsteps came up the stairs, with Yongguk quickly coming into view. Daehyun breathed in his scent and breathed out a noise of contentment. “Is something wrong?” Yongguk asked. It must have been an odd sight, to find him bunched up in his blankets and shivering on a warm summer day, and Daehyun wondered if Yongguk knew why, or if he did not understand. Daehyun did not fully understand himself, but from what Youngjae had implied, it was likely that his body was pushing through a light preheat-like state, that would not end in a heat, to make certain the environment was better than the one he had been in before.

“I’m cold.” Daehyun spoke softly. It was hard to find his voice when all he could think of was how good Yongguk smelled. There was still that unintended fear of being around an alpha that was not his pack, but he supposed he was adjusting quickly. He could remember that it only took three days for his now-dead pack to start smelling like pack instead of like danger when he was eleven, and that was without being consumed in the pack’s scent as he was now with this one. “Youngjae says I need someone to stay close to me or I might get sick.” He informed.

Yongguk narrowed his eyes for a moment, and Daehyun knew he was confused. “I’ll go get Himchan.” He said after a long pause, and then he turned and left before Daehyun could find the words to ask him to stay.

He remembered the feeling he had then well too. At eleven, he remembered joining his pack only to find the pack members were cold to him, with the alpha being the most so. He had been persistent at first, trying to stay close to the alpha and receive affection from him, but quickly lost hope as their true intentions had been revealed. That feeling of desperation for approval from his alpha persisted whenever his alpha drifted away from him until his first heat, when it was replaced by such an intense fear that it felt like he was freezing whenever his alpha got too close.

Now, he had that first feeling again, that desire for approval and closeness with a new alpha. He supposed it was only natural, and couldn’t help but wonder if the betas felt it too. Even if he knew he would not stay, the feeling made sense to him. An alpha could easily kill him, or harm him so greatly that he wished he was dead, and so it made sense to feel that desire for approval, to know the alpha would not hurt him.

But still, Daehyun was quick to argue with himself, quick to insist that he did not actually care if Yongguk was affectionate with him. This was not his pack, not his home, and not his alpha. It was just a place to stay the night. It was just a means to an end.

He felt even colder, with Yongguk gone, and little pin pricks began running up his arms and legs. Footsteps sounded from near his door and Daehyun could not deny the small amount of relief it brought him. Himchan was in view less than a minute later. He frowned slightly in seeing Daehyun’s shivers, but still paused, respectfully, to ask. “Would you like me to hold you or just to sit next to you?” He asked. “I can get more blankets too, if you’d rather that.”

Daehyun fought a blush when he answered. He did not like to ask for attention. “For now, just sit with me.” He replied. “If I’m still cold, I’ll ask for a hug.”

Himchan was quick to sit by his side, a book of his own in his hands. They sat with their sides brushing and Daehyun quickly felt the shivers leaving him. “Do you want me to play with your hair?” Himchan asked softly, smiling when Daehyun nodded.

By the time Youngjae came to alert them he and Junhong had finished making lunch, Daehyun was all but curled up against Himchan’s chest, book forgotten as he laid there in blissed-out serenity. Himchan had an arm around him, although his hand did not rest on Daehyun’s side as it should have but rather held up the book he was reading. His other hand was stroking his hair, except for the moments when he had to turn the page.

“Is he asleep?” Youngjae had whispered.

“No.” Daehyun was aware of the whiny tone of his voice as he buried his face a little further into Himchan’s chest.

“It’s time for lunch now,” Youngjae told them, “I can bring it up here for you if you don’t want to move.”

Daehyun let out a low whining noise in response, as he was barely awake and not really thinking about remaining guarded like he should, but he still pulled away from Himchan and raised his arms so Youngjae could come carry him. “Let’s go,” he mumbled as Himchan stood and Youngjae came to pick him up. Daehyun found Youngjae was a little less sure in carrying him than Junhong had been, but the beta was strong in his own right, and certainly strong enough that Daehyun didn’t think he’d be dropped.

He was still asleep for the most part, so he rested his head on Youngjae’s shoulder and closed his eyes, and then rested his head on whoever was next to him’s shoulder when they got downstairs. “Are you okay?” The person he was resting on asked, and Daehyun was pretty sure it was Jongup’s voice.

“I’m sleepy.” Daehyun answered.

Jongup shifted slightly, so that his arm was around Daehyun’s shoulders and his fingers were running up and down his arm. “Did you not sleep well?” It was Himchan that asked. “Or are you feeling sick?” A cool hand rested against Daehyun’s forehead. “Youngjae, come feel his head.” They were worrying too much over him, like they actually cared about what happened to him.

“I’m fine.” Daehyun said quickly. He sat upright all of a sudden, his face red but otherwise lacking emotion. “I just didn’t sleep well. I’ll take a nap after lunch until the other pack gets here.”

“Are you sure?” Himchan asked.

“I’m fine.” Daehyun snapped. He couldn’t grow attached to them and he couldn’t let them grow attached to him. This was not his home and this was not his pack, he told himself. He knew he would leave soon enough, and letting them grow attached to him would only endanger his ability to do so. Certainly they didn’t want him as their omega now, but if they grew attached? It wouldn’t matter what he wanted anymore, they would have him.

“Don’t pester him.” Daehyun had some amount of relief with Yongguk’s calm, cold voice. “He said he was fine.”

The others pulled off him, leaving him feeling a little colder, but still comfortable surrounded by them and their smell. They ate with little chatter after that, until Yongguk, Himchan, and Youngjae began discussing strategy for the meeting they would have.

“Do not give them more than a half mile in on the territory, but we’ll have to offer them something as a reward for doing all of the work for us.” Yongguk instructed. “The alpha and some of the senior betas of this pack should know enough about us to not want to fight us, so no matter how much the challenge us, do not be the one to throw the first hit.”

“Do you think they’ll fight us?” Junhong asked.

“They killed an entire pack and are reaping virtually no rewards because of Daehyun; they may try to take him from us to ameliorate that.” Youngjae reminded him. “On the bright side, Yongguk’s right that they are old enough to know to fear us, so we just have to play off the rumors and keep Daehyun at a safe distance.”

“Next to whoever they are the most afraid of,” Himchan added in agreement.

“So me?” Junhong asked. “I’m guessing he can’t be next to Yongguk because Yongguk will be close to their alpha, so I’m next on the freaky rumors list, right?”

“That would be you.” Jongup agreed.

“Freaky rumors?” Daehyun asked.

The five paused to stare at him, and Himchan thinned his lips before he spoke. “We had to do a lot of things in order to convince the packs around us to wait until we were all adults before taking our land, and to agree to the plan in general given how much land we, combined, possess. So Youngjae and I started a bunch of rumors, discreetly, in order to make us scarier. A lot of them are rather gruesome, but Junhong’s were by far the worst.”

Daehyun looked to Junhong, who just sighed out, “a seven year old in a house full of corpses, trying not to starve to death.” Daehyun did not understand what he meant.

“Don’t worry about it.” Youngjae cut in, his voice firm. Daehyun could see him rubbing Junhong’s thigh under the table. “Just know that if you hear anything terrible or freaky about us, it’s probably not completely true. We did mix everything with a little bit of facts, just to make it more believable.”

“Can’t they call for some sort of appeals?” Jongup asked suddenly. “They were the ones to kill the Busan transplants, and so the words ‘whoever finds him can keep him’ actually more or less means that Daehyun goes with whoever he wants to.” Jongup looked at him for a second, a bit of apprehension in his eyes. “I’m not saying it’s bad that you get to make your own choices, just that they will likely bring you closer if they ask for one, and maybe they’ll be dumb enough to try to grab you and run.”

“Your right.” Himchan agreed. “One of us will need to stay close to him if they ask for that.” He paused then, turning his attention to Daehyun. “Please don’t go with them.” He pleaded softly. Daehyun thinned his lips. Himchan was already too attached, it would hurt him when Daehyun left.

“Don’t.” Yongguk told Himchan, who turned back to his food with a pout. “Daehyun, it is your decision, all I can tell you is that they will not be willing to let you go live on your own as we are. And, perhaps, maybe, if you are thinking of going with them, you’d humor me just temporarily by remembering what their original plan for you was.” Daehyun found himself growing frustrated. As much as Yongguk had shot down Himchan’s direct plea, he was still trying to convince Daehyun to follow their wishes instead of his own.

Daehyun let out a sharp breath. “If they ask for me to come with them, it’s my decision, not yours. So, stop talking about it and stop trying to influence me. I’ll do what’s right for me. I can take care of myself.” His voice was fierce and rude, like he had been the night before.

He reminded himself he couldn’t grow comfortable just because their primary interest was in his land. He was an omega after all. They would only ever think of him for one thing, and if they could have him, they would. He reminded himself that they kept offering to let him stay forever for a reason, and that they were all still so affectionate and kind to him for a reason. His heat was coming within a month, probably, and any kindness toward an omega was always expected to be paid for with open legs.

He didn’t listen to the rest of their scheming, but rather spent the rest of lunch chastising himself for being so hopeful, so trusting in their motives. It was clear the betas liked him, even if Yongguk probably did not. Yongguk was so cold to him, Daehyun could only assume he did not care. The betas, on the other hand, already seemed quite attached to the idea of him staying. Himchan and Youngjae, especially, seemed attached, to the point that Daehyun worried they might try asking him to be their mate before his month was up.

They were not doing this out of mutual interest. They were probably not even doing it because it was what Yongguk told them to do. The betas all seemed to be driven by a desire for him to stay and to want to stay. Their kindness and affection was suspicious.

Once again, Daehyun repeated it in his head: any kindness toward an omega was expected to be paid for with open legs. They wanted to have him, to use him for pleasure. Every pack would be kind and gentle with him when trying to trick him to stay, but without a doubt they would go back to being as cruel as his old pack if he agreed to join them.

They wanted him as a submissive omega, with open legs and no objections. That was all anyone would want him for, because that was all he was meant to be.

Daehyun could not let himself be comfortable in this pack.

He could not let them become his pack. He could not let this be his home.

After lunch, he went back to his room, and sent Jongup, who had carried him there, away. He was still tired, and so he found it easy to drift off to sleep for an hour or two.

He woke up to the sound of voices outside, his window still open to make them clearer. He was freezing to the point of chattering teeth and shivering. It didn’t take long for those small stings to begin dancing on his skin again, something he knew well from his preheats, and not long after they started the tears began, without reason or cause. He knew he should call one of the others to help him, but he did not. He would have to learn to survive this on his own because he would not be staying here.

He would not be some pack’s again.

“So, are we absolutely clear on the plan here?” He could hear someone outside hiss. Their voice sounded familiar. “You idiots can’t go fucking everything up this time.” Upon hearing 'idiots', Daehyun knew it was one of the betas that searched his room for him.

“Relax.” Another voice said. “We’ll push them around and get what we want. If there’s a fight, we’ll beat them.”

“No.” Daehyun shivered when the alpha spoke. “We will not be fighting them. Don’t you know what pack this is?”

“Even being here gives me the creeps.” That first beta agreed.

“What pack is it?” He heard someone ask.

“They’re the Orphan Pack, the Children of the War.” He could barely hear the answer. “Don’t get too close to any of them.” He heard a moment later. There were soft whispers of the rumors then, of the things these boys might have done. The pack did not seem to think that ‘might’ was necessary, stating things as if they were facts.

They all stopped speaking then, as if some great, scary secret had been revealed. Daehyun felt like he had heard that name ‘Orphan Pack’ before, but he didn’t know anything about what it implied.

It was a couple minutes later that Junhong came to his room. “Daehyun, it’s time for—” He stopped speaking, rushing to Daehyun’s side upon seeing the state he was in. “Shit, are you okay?” Junhong asked. “What do I do? How can I help? Do you need more blankets? Should I call Youngjae? Or Himchan?” He seemed a bit panicked.

“Just hug me and then take me downstairs.” Daehyun replied. “I’ll be fine.” To his relief, that’s all Junhong did. He hugged him until the shaking had stopped, and then Daehyun was brought downstairs despite the tears still coming out of his swollen, red eyes.

“Can you walk from here to the couch?” Junhong whispered before they stepped in view of the others, and Daehyun supposed he had his reasoning, so he agreed to.

It hurt like hell, and he heard the small gasps as he more or less limped into the room, struggling to walk normally when his feet stung with every step. “You shouldn’t have made him walk.” Himchan’s voice was different when he spoke then. He sounded so distant and cold, it almost mirrored Yongguk’s standard state of being.

“I didn’t want to carry him.” Junhong replied in that same voice. He pulled Daehyun, still crying, to the couch, and settled back on it with his arm somewhat possessively over Daehyun’s shoulders.

“I want him.” The other alpha’s reaction was so quick, it made his head spin. “Yongguk, I’m sorry. If I had known he looked like that, I never would have said anyone could have him.” He paused then, turning his attention to Daehyun. “You’re so beautiful, omega. I’ve seen many pretty omegas in my life, but none as stunning as you.” The alpha was older than anyone in Yongguk’s pack, likely in his 50s.

“You shouldn’t have given him away before seeing him then.” Himchan spoke in Yongguk’s stead. “My alpha will not take kindly to this.”

One of the Northerner’s betas began whispering in their alpha’s ear, and after a moment their alpha spoke again. “I call for an appeal. It’s the omega’s choice where he goes since I forfeited my direct right to own him. You will at least allow me that, won’t you, Yongguk?”

Yongguk remained unmoving, like a frozen, glaring gargoyle. “My alpha can allow that much.” Himchan replied. “It is only fair. But if our dearest omega says no, you must accept what we’ve offered you and go. Our alpha will be upset if you are so disrespectful of our very generous offers. After all, you did give up your right, and the land is his. We have no reason to give you anything outside of generosity.”

“We did all the wo—” A beta tried to object and was quickly, near violently, shushed by one of his pack members.

“I will accept that.” The alpha agreed. “Come to me, Omega.” He ordered Daehyun.

Daehyun looked to Junhong, worried because they had talked about the possibility of them grabbing him before. “You may go.” Junhong told him, “but I’ll come with you.” They stood, and Junhong remained close as he walked to the other pack, and close as the alpha pulled Daehyun onto his lap.

“I have an offer for you, pretty omega.” The alpha smiled, his face wrinkling. It occurred to Daehyun that he was young enough to be this man’s son. “Be my mate. I’ll take good care of you— bring you all of the pretty things I find, keep you safely tucked away from any harm, fill you up with so many pups, and whenever you're empty I'll make sure to fill you up in other ways. I won’t ever be cross about your heats either; I’m sure we can have plenty of fun without them.”

“Can you fix me?” Daehyun was embarrassed at how high and cutesy his voice was with that question, but he had his reasoning.

“The voice of an angel.” The alpha murmured to one of his betas. “I cannot live until I’ve heard him moan.” Daehyun fought the urge to gag. “What do you mean, ‘fix you’, baby?” The alpha asked, speaking slowly and in a manner that made Daehyun feel like a small child.

He kept up his act regardless of how the anger was burning inside of him. “Alpha and the cute beta are going to make my heats come every week!” He exclaimed. Junhong, by his side, snickered. “Then I can get filled with lots and lots of pups, right? Can Alpha do that too?” He spoke like a small child, and Junhong could not snickering. Weirdly, it just put the other pack more on edge, rather that tipping them off that Daehyun was making things up.

The alpha furrowed his eyebrows, looking back to Youngjae, who gave a large smile. “How?” He demanded.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” Youngjae answered proudly.

The alpha turned back to him. “I’ll figure it out.” He told him. “And even if I don’t, I promise I’d still have you plenty, and my betas too. You wouldn’t need to worry about whether or not you were in heat, baby. You wouldn’t need to worry about anything. We’d take care of everything to make sure you could just lay there and feel good.”

Daehyun smiled a little, so amused at how far off the alpha was from what an omega would really want.

The alpha see to take it as encouragement to keep speaking. “We’d put those pretty lips to good use too. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? We could play all day, baby, just say you’ll be mine.” Daehyun wondered if he should really keep egging this guy on, or if he should bail now that he had said so many creepy things to someone less than half his age. Junhong’s happy snickers made him want to continue.

“I have a question first.” Daehyun said sweetly. “My old alpha was alive when I left, why was that?” He asked. He looked at Yongguk, sitting only a couple feet behind them, out of the corner of his eyes. There was the smallest upturn at the corner of his lips.

“He’s dead now. When we couldn’t find you, we went back and killed him.” The alpha replied.

“But why was he still alive?” Daehyun pressed. The alpha thinned his lips, eyebrows furrowed. He looked to his betas for help, but none of them had any suggestions. “Oh, come on, Alpha.” Daehyun tried to sound cuter, more playful, and completely fine with it. “I already know. It’s not that hard to figure it out. Even I, a stupid, little omega, could guess why you wanted to find me before you killed him. Just say it. I promise I won’t be mad.”

“We were going to tie him up and have you in front of him before we killed him.” The alpha admitted. “A little extra torture for him, to see his omega taken by all the members of another pack before his life was ended.”

“And were you going to kill me in front of him too, or kill me after he was dead?” Daehyun prompted.

“We were only going to kill you if you were ugly, omega.” The alpha promised. “Clearly, that’s not the case, so—” Daehyun cut him off.

“That wasn’t my question.” Daehyun replied.

“If you were ugly, we were going to kill you after him.” The alpha admitted. “But, we wouldn’t have killed _you_. You’re so beautiful. We would have just kept celebrating our victory with you instead, and once I had rewarded my betas well enough, I would have made you my mate.”

“Alpha is so sweet.” Daehyun giggled. “I’ve made my decision.” He announced, and the Northerner pack all gained smug smiles. “And my decision is,” Daehyun paused, “to tell you,” he paused again, a wide, friendly smile on his face, “that you fucking disgust me!” Daehyun cheered loudly, before jumping back toward Yongguk.

The alpha tried to grab him as he was moving, but Junhong stepped between them, giving a dark look. Daehyun had never seen an alpha react in fear to a beta before, but the alpha quickly withdrew his hands.

Daehyun was standing in front of Yongguk, and began to step away, back to the couch he had been sitting on before, when arms wrapped around his middle and he was pulled to sit next to him. He threw his legs over Yongguk’s and rested his head on Yongguk’s shoulder. It stung a little when Yongguk did not try to return any part of the embrace. Yongguk's body heat rid him of any cold feeling though, and he smelled good enough that Daehyun couldn't resist hiding his face in the crook of his neck.

“Your bitch just cursed at me.” The alpha told Yongguk.

Yongguk shrugged. “He does that.”

The alpha growled. "I should kill you all for this. I demand you either give me that ungrateful bitch or the land I earned. If you don’t, it will be a fight.”

“Hm,” Himchan said, as if thinking about it. “I suppose we wouldn’t mind having your territory too. It will be a lot to manage, but I’m sure we’ll find a way. Plus, I’ve heard you have a lake that freezes over nicely in winter. We could all learn how to ice skate.”

The alpha was clearly growing frustrated. “Your pack has disrespected me enough, Yongguk. I will not have it.”

Yongguk turned his head slightly, giving Himchan a small nod. Himchan spoke for him again. “Then don’t have it.” He said simply. There was a pause in which the other pack tries to figure out what he meant. “Well, go on then. Get out. You won’t accept the deal we’ve so generously offered you, so go. You get nothing.” There was a longer pause. “If you really want to fight, I suppose we can.”

Jongup stepped forward to stand by Junhong’s side, excited smiles on both of their faces. “Fine.” The alpha growled. “We’ll go. Keep your goddamn bitch, I bet he’s loose anyway.”

The pack stormed out, and they all remained silent until Jongup confirmed they were out of sight from the window, having traveled straight down the road. The moment that was confirmed, Youngjae broke into a fit of laughter, jumping up and down and falling over. Daehyun thought he looked like a complete idiot. It was endearing.


	5. Chapter 5

“There’s no way he’d agree to that — to any of that.” The hissed whisper was hidden behind the running sink and the ringing of plates hitting together, completely inaudible to those anywhere else in the house.

“He’d agree to anything if it meant getting affection.” The reply came, “Isn’t that the foundation of our entire strategy? He’s desperate for even the littlest bit of kindness or positive attention, and we can get anything we want from him with patience and soft touches.”

“He still doesn’t want to stay.” The first sounded the slightest bit frustrated.

“Patience.” The second reminded.

 

After the Northerners had left, they had eaten dinner, and since then Daehyun found himself on the couch with Jongup, watching as he and Junhong played video games. Originally they had been playing some racing game where they were trying to beat each other. Daehyun had tried to rest his head on Jongup’s broad shoulder then, finding Jongup was arguably the comfiest of the bunch to sleep on, but the beta was moving so much he ended up sitting up and pouting.

They had since switched over to some game where they were on a quest together as a team, and Jongup was able to sit a lot more still so Daehyun could rest against him. Junhong was sitting on the floor; he had claimed it made it easier to see the screen. Jongup had his leg spread a bit from where he was sitting on the couch, with Junhong sitting right in front of him, his shoulders sandwiched between Jongup’s knees.

“Is it alright if I put my arm around you?” Jongup asked. “It’ll make it a bit easier to play.”

“It’s fine.” Daehyun agreed easily. His condition was getting progressively more intense, and the closer he was to people, the better he felt. Of course, he still felt fine if he wasn’t touching anyone, and he was only cold if he was away from people for several minutes, but everyone smelled so good and their touch felt so good that he had a hard time fighting it.

Daehyun liked Jongup. He didn’t seem to expect anything from anyone, and was more or less very kind and tolerant of his clingy pack members. Daehyun had found it interesting how each other the betas worked their way into the pack. Each one had their place, but unlike his old pack where ‘knowing your place’ meant being submissive, here it seemed to be a way for the boys to understand what everyone was comfortable and uncomfortable with being and doing.

Jongup, for instance, was a rather introverted person. Even knowing him for a day, Daehyun could tell. He liked the attention from his packmates, but too much was too much and he would easily get talked over if too many excited people were around him. Around him the other members seemed to be a bit quieter, a bit more ready to stop what they were saying and listen to him, rather than talking over him like they did each other. And likewise, around more excitable people, Jongup was able to mellow them out.

Junhong was a bit shy and nervous, but whenever he got that way, one of the other members was quick to respond. It was almost always Youngjae, who would rub his leg or play with his hair almost constantly, regardless of how nervous Junhong seemed. More than once he had caught random pack members give Junhong a kiss on the cheek, with Yongguk being the exception. Even then, Yongguk was more affectionate with him than he was with any of the other pack members — in that he patted Junhong on the shoulder once, and Daehyun had never seen him so much as stand too close to the others.

Himchan and Youngjae had similar roles in the group, taking care of the younger two betas, each other, and now, him. He had also witnessed Himchan chastising Yongguk for not eating enough and Youngjae acting cutely until he finished his food, which made him think that their roles were more or less constantly taking care of everyone. Youngjae was sassier, more likely to tease or worm his way into getting what he wanted underhandedly. Himchan was more direct about telling people what they needed to do, but he was also more childish in a way that Daehyun found fun to be around.

It wasn’t like his old pack in the slightest. In his old pack the betas were constantly bickering and fighting, they barely got along and had no real understanding of one another. Here it seemed that everyone acknowledged exactly where everyone else stood. Everyone was always trying to accommodate each other, to only give and never take.

The alphas were the only similar feature: distant, a bit cold, and completely unaffectionate. But, even then, Yongguk for all his distance, was kind. He was so much kinder than any alpha Daehyun had ever met. He was so kind that Daehyun felt safe around him.

It wasn’t safe.

Daehyun tried to remind himself of that over and over again throughout the day, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to convince himself of it. He knew they only wanted him to stay so they could have him, he knew their interest in him laid completely in the prize waiting for them between his legs, but he was losing his will to believe it rather quickly.

No one tried to make a move on him. Even now, with Jongup’s arm looped around his middle in a way that Daehyun would have found dangerous just a couple hours before, he just felt safe. He felt comfortable, as if Jongup was a member of his pack who he could trust instead of a member of a foreign pack trying to convince him to do something he really didn’t want to do — to be something he really didn’t want to be.

Youngjae came into the room when Daehyun had nearly fallen asleep, half on Jongup’s lap without realizing he had moved into that position. “Daehyun,” Youngjae called softly, and Daehyun hummed in acknowledgement but did not pick up his head. “I did some research on what’s probably going on with you. It seems like this is pretty normal, your body is trying to figure out if you’re safe now or if it should still be reacting as if it’s in a stressful environment. It should only last about two days total, three at the most, but during that time I’m going to have to insist that you aren’t alone for more than a couple minutes at a time, okay?”

Youngjae started playing with his hair and Daehyun hummed again, feeling warm and comfortable. “Okay.” He agreed easily, more focused on the hand in his hair than the words Youngjae was saying.

“That means I’m going to need to ask you to stay in the same room as someone tonight. You don’t need to share a bed or anything, but it could be really dangerous if you’re on your own all night.” Youngjae sounded apologetic.

Normally, Daehyun would have questioned him. The things he was saying didn’t sound quite true and Daehyun wasn’t sure Youngjae hadn’t just made it all up. But, laying there in Jongup’s arms with Youngjae playing with his hair, and everything just smelling and feeling so good, Daehyun’s instinct to fight had more or less shut off. “Sure, that’s okay.” He mumbled. “Just until this is over.”

“Of course.” Youngjae agreed. “Just until you come back down from this.”

 

Daehyun woke up in Junhong’s bed, wrapped up in Junhong’s long arms and his long legs. He felt warm and peaceful, being surrounded by the most innocent member of the pack like that. When it had come time to go to bed and he was asked to pick who he’d share a room with, originally he had wanted to pick Yongguk. Yongguk was safe because he did not like Daehyun in the slightest. He did not want to be close to Daehyun at all. If he were to stay in his room, Yongguk would just ignore him.

But he was too nervous to ask for that, too afraid of his reasoning being misconstrued. He had been afraid of a lot of things when picking, but most of all of being hit by the members he did not choose for not choosing them. Yet, no one was upset with his decision. No one even batted an eye, really. He picked Junhong and they just accepted it and moved on, as if it was not disrespectful of him to favor the youngest member first, or a beta before an alpha. Again, this pack was odd.

He pulled away from Junhong slightly. It was easy to shift around even if Junhong was holding him tightly, and Daehyun thought to himself he could probably slip out of the bed and leave the room without the sleeping beta noticing. He could run if he wanted to.

He didn’t. He told himself it was because his feet were too injured, and because there was no point in running from a pack that would just let him go anyway. Instead he rested with their face a couple inches apart, running his thumb over Junhong’s cheek as he considered his face in close detail. Daehyun didn’t want to believe the rumors about Junhong were true, he didn’t want to believe the rumors about any of them were true; but if they were he should be running as soon as possible. But Junhong had too kind of a face to be on the verge of turning into a monster, and they were all too kind to have done any of the terrible things they had been accused of.

Youngjae had said they were just rumors, that they themselves had made them up in order to scare their neighbors, but that sounded like what someone would lie and say when trying to convince an omega to join their pack. Much like the Northerner alpha had claimed he wouldn’t be angry over Daehyun’s heats, this pack would claim they were safe and loving, and had never done anything wrong.

They would lie and say they didn’t want to have him when they did, too. Daehyun wasn’t dumb enough to believe that lie though, he knew his place in the world well. Even if he struggled to convince himself at times, he knew what they wanted from him, and he knew he was unwilling to give it to them. He hated the idea of being some pack’s omega, a toy to be passed around and doted on, to reward them when they worked hard, to belong to the pack and most of all to the alpha, like property. He hated all of the omegas in the world that so willingly let themselves be a pack’s property. Daehyun wanted to be free.

He wanted to do whatever he wanted, and when Junhong opened his eyes and gave Daehyun a tired smile, what he wanted was to kiss him. “Good morning.” His voice was rough, and he found himself clearing his throat without thinking.

“‘Morning.” Junhong murmured back with that sleepy smile. His fingers started to trail up and down Daehyun’s back, his smile getting wider when Daehyun shivered.

“Could I kiss you?” Daehyun asked without thinking. Those words hung between them, almost unreal, as Junhong stiffened, his smile lost to a confused expression that just made Daehyun want to kiss him more.

“If you want.” Junhong agreed quietly. “I don’t mind.” He added on. He looked so nervous, it made Daehyun feel delighted. He leaned in then, capturing Junhong’s lips in a very brief kiss, innocent and soft just like Junhong, before he pulled away.

He expected to be questioned, but he wasn’t. Junhong just asked if he was ready to get up for the day, or if he wanted to sleep a little longer before going to wake up the others. He wasn’t met with any questions when he announced to the others that he as fine with little soft kisses, either. They barely seemed to acknowledge it passed Himchan giving him a quick peck on the forehead after he spoke.

When another pack comes that day, they too try to convince Daehyun to go with him. This time Daehyun didn’t even bother to get closer to them, just listening to their lewd promises from in between Yongguk and Himchan, before telling them there was no chance he would even consider them as an option. His turn down was cruel, but politer than it had been the previous day, and Yongguk pet his hair after, just for a second, but it felt so good. He chose Himchan’s room to sleep in that night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new pack had come, and Daehyun faces a dilemma.

“I’m getting worried. What if the rest of the month passes and he still hasn’t agreed to stay? We only have three weeks left.” These morning meetings had become standard since Daehyun started sleeping in his own room.

“You really think we’d just let him go?” The reply was nearly laughed out.

“It’ll just be a lot easier if he wants to stay. Having to fight him every time would be an unnecessary frustration.”

A sigh came in response. “How long until his preheat, then?”

“He’s already starting to smell. It’ll be a week at most, likely more like five days.” The silent one offered. “Once he’s in heat, he’ll be begging for us without a doubt. You saw him last week, he was desperate just for affection.”

“So we’ll have him within the next two weeks, as promised.” Another sigh. “If you’re so worried, we’ll do to him what we did to Youngjae and Zelo. After that, he’ll want to stay with us, isn’t that right?”

“Trust me, if you do that, he’ll beg on his knees.” Zelo answered.

“If he makes it the next four days then.” It was agreed. “We’ll take drastic measures to win him. It’s not like we haven’t done worse to get what we want.”

 

This alpha was different. Every day for the past week, Daehyun had sat on the same spot on the couch between Yongguk and Himchan and listened as alphas from various packs, and sometimes betas as well, would make lewd promises if he would agree to go with them, and every day he turned them down, but this alpha was different.

His pack was young, like Yongguk’s. A band of brothers, it seemed, with the youngest two still pups, both towards the end with their first runs certainly coming within the next couple of years. The alpha seemed to be the oldest, but they were all undoubtedly related, with the same eyes and similar lips, the same kind expression. They spoke in a familiar accent, rough like the crashing of waves not far from where he was born. Their names were familiar, although their pack had moved long before he was born.

That alpha asked for his name and refused to speak with him until he knew it. “It’s nice to meet you, Daehyun.” He smiled. He asked if someone would bring a chair closer, so Daehyun could sit and speak with them without the pressure of Yongguk being by his side. When Zelo suggested Daehyun just sit on his lap, the alpha refused. They reminded Daehyun of his first pack, so kind and polite to him.

“We plan to move back south soon.” The alpha told him once Daehyun had sat across from him, a small smile on his lips and on his eyes. “Our family has rights to a good amount of territory there, not as large as your alpha’s now, but it’s enough. I’m not going to beg or try to convince you, it’s your choice what you do. I just wanted to tell you that if you want to come back home with us, to Busan again, you can.”

He reached for Daehyun’s hands as he spoke and Daehyun let him take them because it felt so warm and familiar. His skin was dry and cracked, but still smooth against his own. He was built with tan muscles, and their skin was nearly the same shade. His smile was careful, but non-threatening.

Daehyun could see Junhong’s look of discontent out of the corner of his eye. He could see Yongguk stiffen. “You aren’t going to promise me anything?” Daehyun asked. His accent that had been hidden for years escaped him, and he watched as the whole pack lit up upon hearing it.

“What could I promise you that you’d really want?” The alpha replied.

“Most alphas promise they’ll fill me with pups.” Daehyun told him. “Or that I’ll at least be pleasured enough to not notice the lack of them.”

The alpha chuckled quite a bit. “I can see why you don’t want to go with any of them, then.” Daehyun felt warm, pleased at the alpha’s dismissal of such things. “I could promise you we wouldn’t treat you like a toy, then, that we realize you’re your own person with your own thoughts and wishes.” After a moment, he asked, “What did Yongguk promise you that make this pack better than the others?”

Daehyun gulped, unsure of what to say. “They won’t hurt me.” He said after a long time. “That’s what they promised, that they won’t hurt me. I’ll have enough to eat. I won’t be locked in a small room, unable to leave. I’ll be allowed to say ‘no’.”

The alpha’s eyebrows furrowed. “I didn’t realize the choices were so bad up here, that that would be enough.”

“You would be surprised, then.” Daehyun answered.

“I can promise you the same, then. I thought that all of those things would be a given, but if they aren’t then I’ll promise them as well.” He squeezed Daehyun’s hands gently. “If they’re willing to let you go then I suppose you don’t have to decide right now. I don’t want to rush you, so just think about it. We’ll be leaving in five days, so just send us a message by then if you’d like to come with us.”

When they left, Daehyun felt a little empty, a little cold. He asked to go to his room, to be left alone, before anyone else could talk with him.

 

“Do you plan on going with them?” Yongguk’s cold voice interrupted Daehyun’s hours of wallowing. “They said to send a letter if you wanted to, so you still can.”

“They said to send them a letter if you were willing to let me leave.” Daehyun answered. For a long time there weren’t words between them passed that. He was surprised Yongguk didn’t try to challenge him. It wasn’t exactly clear when he realized, but somewhere along the way, maybe even that day, it became obvious that he wasn’t going to be able to escape them. “Come here.” He said after a long time, sitting up on his bed to stare down Yongguk. Yongguk seemed wary, but he sat on the edge of the bed regardless. “If I go with them, you still get my land.” He argued.

“It won’t be as clear-cut anymore.” Yongguk argued. “The other packs will try to take it from us.”

“Not with how scared they are of you all.” Daehyun breathed out. “Just have Junhong claim he’s hungry, they’ll all run.”

“I don’t want to fight.” Yongguk replied. “The five of us have seen enough war as is.”

“Then I’ll make you a second deal.” Daehyun insisted. “I’ll turn them down and I’ll refuse to hear any other pack if you give me what I want.”

“What more could you want?” Yongguk asked. “You’re already going to get a house of your own and free food, and we’re going to leave you alone for most of the time.”

Daehyun felt a little ashamed, and completely pathetic when he spoke. It had been a week and Yongguk had only gotten colder toward him, if that was possible. They barely spoke, and Yongguk would not touch him. Now, he even moved away when Daehyun got too close. That cold feeling was coming back, of being without an alpha’s affection. “I want you to touch me the way the other’s do.” He admitted, with red cheeks and eyes locked down on his hands.

“I’m not your alpha, Daehyun.” Yongguk’s reply was cold. “It’s not my job to be affectionate with you.”

“If that’s the case then you’re no one’s alpha.” Daehyun replied. “It’s not like your affectionate with any of them, either, no matter how much they want you to be.” When he looked up he was met with an angry look, but he did not shy away. “Say yes or I will leave with the next pack that comes.” He threatened.

“We had a deal, Daehyun.” Yongguk argued.

“And if I leave than neither of us holds up our end of it. I don’t get my house or my life alone, and you don’t get my land. There was no condition that I had to turn down the packs that come for me.” Daehyun replied firmly. “Don’t get the wrong idea and don’t worry, I still don’t plan on staying. As much as your betas want me here, I don’t want to stay and you don’t want me to either. I am just saying that while I’m here, that is what I want. You’re still not my alpha and this is still not my home.”

Yongguk thought about it for a brief while before nodding. “Fine.” He agreed, although he seemed unhappy. He stood then, and took the two steps it would take to sit next to Daehyun, on the very edge of the bed with his lower back against Daehyun’s thighs. He twisted his torso a quarter so they were face to face, and watch as Daehyun’s face flushed at the proximity. His hands came to rest on the bed on either side of Daehyun’s body. “I thought you were different from other omegas.” Yongguk said darkly. “But you’re just as desperate for an alpha to care for you, aren’t you?”

When Yongguk leaned forward, Daehyun’s eyes fluttered shut. His heart was pounding and he felt weak. Lips pressed gently against his forehead and Daehyun was ashamed of how good it felt for Yongguk to show him affection. When Yongguk pulled away, Daehyun rested his forehead on Yongguk’s shoulder.

“Maybe you should go with them.” Yongguk’s voice was still cold as Daehyun began clinging to his shirt. “Maybe you really do need a pack and a home after all.” He wrapped his arms around Daehyun’s waist, holding him tightly and observing the small sigh of contentment Daehyun tried to hide. “You want people to care for you so badly, and you’re so desperate for just a little bit of love. You won’t get that here, Daehyun. I expect you to leave when the month is up. If you can’t handle that, then go with them.”

Daehyun knew Yongguk did not mean it. The cold words were just to provoke him. He knew what Yongguk wanted to hear. “I don’t want to go with them.” He complied in a whisper. Yongguk pressed a kiss to his temple.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why did they all stay? Daehyun had to know. He had to figure out what Yongguk would do to him.

“Yongguk, you can’t expect me to want to join you just because we worked together.” Fourteen-year-old Himchan’s voice was strong, now facing down the boy that had kept him locked in some attic bedroom for three days. “We can still round up whoever’s left, okay? Kill the adults, keep the kids, just like we agreed on. We’ll form a fake pack and keep our land, but—” Himchan was exhausted. He quieted down.

“But you don’t want a new pack.” Yongguk replied. Even at fourteen, his voice was low and his stature was growing. “You want to go home.”

Himchan nodded. He felt bad. He understood where Yongguk was coming from, trying to gather the surviving children together into some sort of comforting band to protect each other after adults had screwed them over so many times in the past, but he just wasn’t ready for that.

“Fine. So we gather the other kids. We’re the only ones that know our alphas are dead.” Himchan grimaced at Yongguk’s statement, reminding him of what they had done. “We’re the only ones that know that we have the Bae’s Alpha tied up in my basement.”

“We’re the only ones that know that we won the war.” Himchan summarized. “From here we can fake anything, use what we did to scare people.”

“We find the other children, whichever ones are alive. All of our siblings are dead, but that leaves eight other packs to check out. Kill the adults, keep the kids. We’ll check the Choi’s first, their oldest was our age, the youngest was seven. Hopefully one of them is alive. The Lee’s and Woo’s had no pups so there’s no one to try to save with them.” Yongguk went through his mental list.

“What about the Moon’s?” Himchan asked. “I heard they had fifteen pups, the youngest was only three months. But given how their alpha was, I don’t know that any of them survived.”

“It’s not possible. My alpha told me theirs was dead though, so they’re probably wiped out. We’ll check, but we’re not going to find anyone there. The Hyun’s went back East. They sent out an official declaration their land went to whoever killed my alpha, so…” It wasn’t a happy smile that Yongguk gave. “The Bae’s and Jeon’s both had a couple pups, but I don’t know that any of them survived.”

“That leaves the Yoo’s then.” Himchan said.

“If one of those science freaks isn’t alive we’ll dig through their library until we find a way to resurrect them.” Neither knew if that was possible, but both were sure a Yoo was necessary to their plan. “There’s isn’t a good chance of it, their alpha went mad too. But we need one of them, we need someone to be made into an alpha and they’re the only one that know how.” Yongguk said.

“And then we all pack up and go home.” Himchan reminded.

“Whatever,” Yongguk didn’t seem happy with his answer. “If you don’t want to join me, don’t. I’ll find my own pack either way.”

It took two weeks to round up the other children, leaving them one Bang, one Kim, one Yoo, one Choi, and surprisingly, one Moon. It took another week to organize themselves enough to make a proposal, to announce their deal to the other packs around them.

“Yongguk,” Himchan whispered, cornering the eldest boy in the kitchen. He peered back to the other room, where Junhong was nibbling on Youngjae’s hand and Jongup was finally asleep on his shoulder. “We can’t let these kids live on their own. They’ll die.”

“You said you didn’t want to join a new pack.” Yongguk replied. “I’m not taking care of them.”

“You’re going to be an alpha,” Himchan hissed, “and you’re willing to be another alpha that just lets pups die?”

“I’m not going to be their alpha,” Yongguk answered coldly. “It shouldn’t concern me what happens to pups that aren’t my pack.” He turned to Himchan then, speaking in a quiet but fierce tone. “And I’m not your alpha either. What I do doesn’t concern you. Just go back to your house on your land like you want and share a bed with your alpha’s corpse.”

Himchan could see through him. “I’ll take care of them, and I’ll convince them to stay. I’ll stay, just like you want.”

“I don’t want you to stay.” Yongguk replied. “I don’t want someone like you in my pack.”

“Alpha, please.” The rage on Himchan’s face did not match his words. “Please let me stay.” It was for show, to satisfy Yongguk’s ego. “I’ll take care of the kids. I’ll make sure they decide to stay. I’ll keep them in line, all smiling and happy.”

Yongguk looked at him for a long time, uneasy. “Is there anything else you want, besides them?”

Himchan wasn’t expecting that, to be allowed to ask for more. “I want that Yoo boy to make sure I’m a beta, and then I want to be negotiator. He said the pills could mess up your speech if he makes them wrong, and he’s eleven so let’s be real, that’s probable. So let me be your voice instead. I’ll handle negotiations with other packs. Hell, even if I hate doing it, I’ll handle controlling people within the pack. That’s all mine.”

“Do I still make the decisions?” Yongguk asked.

“Yes, you’re still our grand, wonderful alpha who we all must obey.” Himchan said with frustration. “I’ll just be your voice. I just want to be a part of the official business.”

Yongguk nudged his shoulder, a small smile on his face. “We were a team before, we can be a team again.” Himchan thinned his lips, but then forced himself to smile back. He should have known he’d feel like he had to stay. He should have known the urge to protect these pups would be overwhelming. In the end, it was nice of Yongguk, to let him negotiate. At least it was something.

 

Daehyun laid with his head on Youngjae’s chest on one of the old leather couches in the library. According to Youngjae this used to be a couple of bedrooms, back when Yongguk’s pack was nearly thirty people strong, but not long after Youngjae decided to officially join Yongguk’s pack they converted it into a library for all of the books they had taken from Youngjae’s house before they burned it down.

“Oh, we burned all of the houses but this one down.” Youngjae explained when Daehyun asked. “There were so many bodies after the war, we would find as many as we could, put them in the closest house, and burn the house down to make sure everyone got a semi-proper burial.” He shrugged. Daehyun didn’t feel like he was telling the whole truth.

It never really felt like they were telling the whole truth, especially when it came to their pasts. There was always something they seemed to be keeping from him, something they were too nervous to say.

Youngjae had stopped reading about an hour ago, not long after Daehyun had come in and laid down on top of him. It had really just become a thing for him, seeking out whoever was close by and cuddling up to them. Daehyun told himself it was just because he was making the best of the situation. If he was stuck here, he might as well feel comfortable, right?

Since then, they had been cuddling on the couch. Youngjae was playing with his hair and stroking his back gently and Daehyun was just struggling to stay awake.

It was starting to occur to Daehyun that they didn’t plan on letting him leave. Some part of him always knew that. Why would they let go of an omega so easily? Considering how many packs were begging for him to join them, Daehyun could assume he was a fairly desirable omega on top of that. So why would they let him go?

He had started to think that Yongguk had faked not wanting him there, all for the sake of making Daehyun feel comfortable enough to stay for longer. “Every night, I want you to think of whether or not you would like to join my pack. If, at the end of two weeks, you still want to leave, then I will let you go.” Yongguk’s words from his first night rang through his head. Those two weeks were almost up and Daehyun was slowly losing the will to fight them.

He didn’t want to be a toy. He didn’t want to be passed around between them or fought over. He didn’t want to be had anymore, to relive those awful memories of the past. But, it was comfortable. It was so comfortable. If they acted in the same kind way when they weren’t having him as they acted then when they couldn’t, Daehyun almost argued it was worth it.

They just wanted to have him he reminded himself. Any kindness to an omega is expected to be paid for with open legs, he shouted in his head, but it did not matter. If they were kind to him, maybe they were worth it.

Even if all of those terrifying rumors about them were true, maybe Daehyun could manage. It was years ago, wasn’t it? And their intentions for him would likely be very different. That is, their intentions for him were likely the same intentions as every pack that came and spit lewd promises at him until he asked them to leave. Omegas were toys, after all.

No, Daehyun shouted at himself. He would not live that life. He wouldn’t let Yongguk play whatever mind game he was playing and trick him into staying like he had tricked the others.

How had he tricked the others?

Daehyun had never gotten a clear answer, but there with Youngjae, the pack member that arguably wanted him the most, he had an idea as to how to find out. Over the past week, Youngjae had gotten more and more affectionate with him, and the way he smiled and blushed whenever Daehyun was close was indication enough to Daehyun that the beta liked him much more than he should. Usually, it was a problem, but Daehyun would work it to his advantage.

“Youngjae,” Daehyun breathed, pulling himself up slowly to rest on his forearms above Youngjae, their chests and noses brushing together. Daehyun’s leg naturally fit between Youngjae’s as he shifted, and he could feel the small twitch in the younger’s lower areas just from the proximity. “Do you want me to kiss you?” He asked in a low voice.

Youngjae gulped, then nodded. His face had flushed a bright pink, and his hands came up to lightly rest on Daehyun’s sides.

“I’ll make you a deal.” Daehyun said. “I’ll kiss you if you tell me the truth about why all of you decided to stay here instead of going home like you were supposed to. The more truthful you are, the more I’ll kiss you.”

Youngjae stared at him for a long time and Daheyun could see him debating the deal in his head. He wouldn’t get the whole truth, probably, but it seemed Youngjae planned on telling him something. “Himchan stayed because he wanted to take care of us.” Youngjae said after a long time. “The three of us kids, we weren’t doing well at all when they found us, and Himchan worried a lot because of it. He stayed because he knew in the end we would stay too, and we needed someone to help us recover from the things that happened during the war.”

Daehyun was trying to decide whether to kiss him or to ask about everyone else when Youngjae continued. “As for the rest of us, it just became increasing clear to us that we weren’t going to be able to go back to our homes. Not in a ‘not allowed to’ way though, Yongguk was more than willing to let us go home if we were sure it was what we wanted, but like, we couldn’t go home. Together we were pretty happy. It’s never been perfect, but it’s something. I think we all learned pretty young that being with people, especially kind people like this pack, is a lot better than being alone. We all took care of each other and needed each other, and it got to the point where even if we still thought we wanted to go home, it wasn’t a real possibility anymore. Sometimes I think it was never a real possibility in the first place.”

Youngjae quieted then, and Daehyun was sure he wouldn’t talk again, he kissed him. It didn’t feel like the whole truth. It felt like there was something major Youngjae was leaving out. But, at the same time, he had been honest. He had said a lot, and Daehyun felt like it was really truthfully a lot of things he didn’t want to say.

Daehyun was willing to be a good sport about it. He was willing to reward him.

He cringed internally, realizing that that was what he was doing. He was just another omega rewarding a pack member for doing something he liked with something sexual. Maybe Yongguk was right. Maybe he wasn’t any different from the other omegas. It was so weird to know he was rewarding someone just for not lying to him. It wasn’t even the whole truth!

Despite his internal disgust with his actions, he didn’t let it show. He liked kissing Youngjae, and he had already learned well enough in the past that the slightest sign of discomfort or discontent from him would end in an immediate stop of contact with whoever he was with, along with an unnecessary profuse apology for their actions. It was nice that they were concerned with his feelings to that level, but inconvenient when his internal crisis didn’t actually make him want to stop.

He shifted up further an inch or two, letting his body slightly over Youngjae’s as he found a better angle to kiss the beta into the couch. He liked the way Youngjae’s hands tightened on his waist, how his nails dug in slightly without him realizing as Youngjae fought the urge to flip them over.

Daehyun could feel it, feel how difficult it was for Youngjae to fight off the urge to take control and dominate him. His whole body was nearly thrumming with the energy of it, and his nails dug a little sharper by the minute as it got harder and harder for him to resist. He would, no matter how difficult it became. Daehyun knew Youngjae wouldn’t act without Daehyun’s consent.

So instead he simply enjoyed it. His kisses were gentle and slow, but thorough. He could feel Youngjae growing against his leg and felt a small burning in the pit of his own stomach.

Usually that feeling would scare him. He was so unused to that feeling of burning across his body that it would scare him away almost immediately. But this time, he reacted differently. This time, he rolled them over, so Youngjae was on top of him.

Youngjae pulled away from him for a second, a look of shock on his face. “Okay?” He whispered, his voice low and gravelly in a way that sent excited shivers up Daehyun’s spine and made that weird heat in his body grow. Daehyun nodded with a small smile, but Youngjae still hesitated. “Pinch me if you want me to stop.” He said, waiting for Daehyun to nod again before he continue.

Youngjae kissed him with more force than Daehyun was expecting, but it felt good. It felt right. Youngjae’s body was warm and firm against his, trapping him against the couch on all sides and yet that felt good, it felt safe.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Junhong?
> 
> Daehyun was afraid. Daehyun was so very afraid.

“Jongup, where do you think you’re going?” The nine-year-old boy did not look up from the ground at the two fourteen year olds standing over him. Neither had expected him to be the first one to break. The little Moon boy was so quiet and withdrawn after his initial tantrum, they had more or less assumed he had given up fighting them.

He clutched onto his little backpack with his little hands and spoke in a soft voice. “I’m going home. You got what you wanted. They’re gonna let us keep our land. I want to go home now.”

Yongguk looked like he would lash out, but Himchan silenced him with a hand over his lips. “Go make sure the others are still asleep, or just stay quiet.” He requested. “I’ll take care of this.” There was a firm stare-off between them, but Yongguk knew Himchan would do a better job anyway.

“Why do you want to go home, Jongup?” Himchan asked in a soft voice, mimicking Jongup as he bent down so they were eye to eye.

“I don’t want to be with this stupid, fake pack anymore.” Jongup answered. “You said I got to go home after! I wanna go home!” He was getting a little upset, but it was easy to shush him. “This isn’t my pack. I don’t want to be here.”

“So you’re going to go back to your house?” Himchan asked, like he was just genuinely curious about the little boy’s plans.

“Yeah,” Jongup answered.

“What are you bringing with you?” Himchan asked. “Some clothes?” Jongup nodded. “Your wolf plushie?” Jongup nodded again. “Any food?”

Jongup thought for a little while. “No I don’t have any food.” He said.

“Is there enough food at your house? You don’t want to end up like Junhong, right?” He saw the fear flash in the nine-year-old’s eyes and knew to keep digging. “I heard starving is the scariest way to die. By the time you realize, you’re too weak to go get help. If you go and there isn’t enough food, we won’t find out until it’s too late. That is, if you don’t do what Junhong did.”

“Maybe I could pack some.” Jongup said weakly. “I want to go home.”

“Why do you want to go home?” Himchan asked again.

“Because it’s where I live!” Jongup answered, frustrated.

“It’s where you live with all of your brothers and sisters, right?” Himchan asked. “Where you go to play with all of them in that big yard? And you get to go sleep in your own bed in the room you share with all of them?”

Jongup thinned his little lips. “Yeah, I want to see them again.”

“What were they like the last time you saw them, Jongup? I didn’t go upstairs like Yongguk did. I didn’t get to meet any of them.” He needed the boy to think. “How were they before you left? Healthy?”

“They were… We… He… Dead.” Jongup answered with a trembling little voice. “They can’t get out of bed to play with me anymore, Alpha tied them down. A-And now, now they… their hearts… they… he…” Jongup started sniffling, and a moment later he was sobbing. He clung to Himchan’s shirt when the older pulled him into a hug.

“But Mean Old Alpha can’t hurt them anymore, right? What happened to him?” Himchan prodded. He hated to remind Jongup, but short of taking him home to make him see the bloody terror that his old house had become, this was the only way to make him see their way.

“He’s dead too.” Jongup answered. He still sounded so scared, to even talk about his old Alpha. Sometimes Himchan couldn’t help but wonder how a boy like him had been able to do what he had done.

“Is he tied to his bed like your siblings are?” Himchan asked.

“No.” Jongup answered. “His head is in the refrigerator. His heart is buried next to where he put my mom, outside.”

“And the rest of him?” Himchan prodded. Jongup cried harder, and he knew he would have to take the little boy to wash his clean hands again or he would scratch the skin raw. Hopefully they still had some of those sleeping pills Youngjae had given him before.

“Everywhere.” Jongup answered. “All of the house.”

“Do you want to go home and see your Alpha again?” Himchan asked, patting Jongup’s head when he got a whimpering ‘no’ in response. “Do you want to go see your siblings again? Tied to their beds so they can’t play with you anymore. And their hearts, what was that about their hearts?”

“I don’t want to go back there!” Jongup sobbed.

“Where do you want to go instead?” Himchan asked. “You’re all packed up, aren’t you? And Yongguk, who you know would never ever hurt you, he’s not your alpha, is he? Where are you going, Jongup?”

Jongup let go of Himchan then, running to Yongguk and clinging to him. “Alpha, let me stay! Be my alpha, please!” He begged.

“Sh, Jonguppie.” Yongguk tried to mirror Himchan’s kind tone of voice. Himchan was rubbing the little boy’s back as he cried into Yongguk’s chest. “Of course, you can stay. Is there anything I can promise you? Anything that’ll make you feel better?”

Jongup thought about it for a long time before he spoke. “Promise you’ll never hurt a pup.” He insisted. “No matter what, even if it’s not your pack or it’s just a baby or almost an adult, promise.”

“I promise I’ll never ever hurt a pup.” Yongguk said softly. “You’ll be safe here, I promise.”

 

Screaming broke their kiss apart right as Daehyun had begun to feel so warm and safe that he considered daring to ask for more. It was loud and crazed, and it did not take much for Daehyun to be able to tell it was Junhong.

Youngjae pulled away a suddenly, a look of complete shock and dismay on his face as he pulled off Daehyun. “Shit!” They heard Himchan shout from the other room.

“Help me hold him down.” The next was a loud order from Yongguk, and Youngjae had already pulled off his body and gotten off the couch. He was rushing a locked cabinet and pulling out the key from his pocket, and flung the doors open with a bang. “Hurry up, Youngjae!” They heard Yongguk shout from the other room.

“Just hold him down, I’m coming!” Youngjae shouted back as he rifled through the cabinet. Daehyun did not understand what was going on. All he really knew was that something was wrong and he was afraid.

The noises from the living room were turning more animalistic by the moment and before Youngjae had finished whatever he was doing in the cabinet, Jongup cried out as if he was in pain. Daehyun thought he heard Himchan say something about a muzzle, but it was too quiet under Junhong’s screaming for him to be sure.

“Guys, we’re out!” Youngjae shouted, fear in his voice.

“Make more!” Yongguk ordered from the other room.

Daehyun watched as Youngjae gathered an armful of things from the cabinet before he locked it again and started to run toward the door. He stopped when he remembered Daehyun, now sitting up on the couch with his swollen lips and disheveled hair, his face otherwise twisted in confusion.

“Stay here.” Youngjae ordered, and then he rushed out of the room.

Predictably, Daehyun did not listen. He waited as the shouting continued but the other pack members seemed to calm, and then carefully snuck out of the library. There was a small wall that separated him from the others, and he peaked around it in short glances to try to capture even the smallest snippets of the scene.

Junhong was thrashing around and screaming. His eyes were shut tight. There was a plastic, muzzle-like mask over his mouth. His veins were bulging out of his skin. His whole body was tense. He looked positively wild.

Yongguk and Jongup were on either side of him, pinning him down with their weight. They had his arms splayed across the top of the couch, with each holding his wrist just far away enough to keep his fingernails from scratching them. Jongup had a small line of bleeding scratch marks down one arm. He and Yongguk each used a knee to keep Junhong’s legs down. Yongguk was using his other hand to pull Junhong’s hair, keeping his face facing the ceiling, while Jongup was using his to press onto Junhong’s chest to keep him from trying to throw his weight around.

Himchan was standing back, a look of complete confusion and deliberation on his face, and Youngjae was nowhere to be found.

“Did we even have meat for dinner tonight?” Himchan asked with confusion.

“No,” Jongup shook his head. “He was a bit feisty yesterday so you and Youngjae said we’d go vegetarian for tonight.”

“What did he have for lunch?” Himchan asked. “Youngjae, check and see if the leftovers are still in the fridge!” He shouted suddenly.

“I’m a little busy right now!” Youngjae shouted back.

Himchan rushed into the kitchen, coming back about a minute later with a hand over his forehead. He looked frustrated. “Either we ban him from making his own lunch or we start burning all of the meat to a crisp instead of just his.”

“You or Youngjae are cooking and supervising all of his meals from now on.” Yongguk replied. “What was he thinking?”

“He probably wasn’t.” Jongup replied.

Youngjae rushed in then, a small bowl in his hands. He picked up a medical needle that was waiting on the table and started to fill it with the contents of the bowl.

“What are we going ... when … into heat?” Daehyun couldn’t quite hear what Himchan was whispering under the groans Junhong was letting out as Youngjae stuck the needle in his veins, but it sounded a lot like Himchan was asking what they were going to do when he went into heat. It sounded like Himchan may have called him ‘that bitch’ instead of his name, but he couldn’t be sure.

The only thing he was sure of was that he was afraid.

“In theory he’s alive so the blood won’t be a problem.” Youngjae answered. “But I’ll make a couple extra doses and we’ll make sure he knows when to call for help.”

“We can’t tell him about this!” Himchan hissed back. “About any of this! All the hard work we’ve done will go to waste!”

“His preheat isn’t for another three days. The day after tomorrow, he’ll be ours.” Youngjae replied. “We can tell him once he’s ours, by then he’ll have lost any thoughts about leaving anyway.” Daehyun’s heart was pounding. What were they going to do to him?

What was going to happen to him?

If he had been suspicious of their intentions before, he was all but sure he should be afraid of them then. Why were they so certain he’d be theirs the day after tomorrow? Why was Youngjae tracking his preheat?

He was afraid of them.

Junhong was slowly relaxing, and they began to take their hands off of him, although they still held down his arms. “Where is the omega anyway?” Yongguk asked, and Daehyun felt a little hurt that his name wasn’t being used, even if he hadn’t been called a bitch.

“I told him to stay in the library.” Youngjae replied. “It’s a shame this had to happen now. He was really letting me have some fun with him. It was almost like he trusted me.”

“Himchan, go get him and take him upstairs.” Yongguk ordered. “Wait outside the room to make sure he doesn’t leave.”

“Yes, Alpha.” Himchan replied. Daehyun thought it was the only time he had heard someone call Yongguk “alpha” and it only worried him more. He darted back into the library, pretending to be pacing around with worry.

Himchan appeared in the doorway not long after. “What happened to Junhong?” Daehyun asked, voice filled with worry. What were they going to do to him?

“He’s just throwing a fit.” Himchan replied. “You must be tired. You should go to bed.”

“I’m fine.” Daehyun replied. “I want to see Junhong.”

“You’re feet must be hurting.” Himchan ignored him. He approached Daehyun like one might a scared animal. “You really shouldn’t be walking or even standing yet. Youngjae will be angry with you if you reopen the wounds. Let me carry you.”

“Take me to see Junhong.” Daehyun demanded. Himchan scooped him up and for a brief moment he thought he would get what he want. Instead, he was carried up the stairs and toward his room. “No!” Daehyun shouted. “No, I want to know what’s going on!” He shouted. He started to squirm in Himchan’s grip.

“Stop.” The authority in Himchan’s voice sent a shiver down his spine, and for a moment Himchan almost sounded like an alpha. For a moment, he almost sounded like Yongguk. “You’re not a member of our pack, Daehyun. Accept that some things aren’t for outsiders to know about.”

“Himchan, please.” Daehyun breathed, but Himchan did not reply. He placed Daehyun down on his bed and then left, closing the door behind him. Given Yongguk’s instructions, he didn’t doubt Himchan was now guarding to prevent him from leaving.

What was going to happen to him? What were they going to do to him?

He was right! He had been right all along, this pack had no intention but to have him. Their kindness was fake. It wasn’t real. They would have him. They would turn into his old pack.

Daehyun pulled his knees to his chest and tried to slow his breaths. He could feel the pain of his old pack’s hands on him beginning anew, spreading injuries over his healing skin and ripping him in two as they had him. He could feel them pounding into his stomach before they had him, promising him the new pup would be theirs.

He whimpered, low in his throat, as tears began gathering in his eyes. He was shaking. He was so scared.

They were going to have him.

He was going to be theirs.

They had told every single pack in the area that Daehyun was joining them. He had brutally rejected each one, and each was afraid of this pack. There was no real escape. They would find him if he ran and bring him back. They were going to have him.

Daehyun was so afraid.

He didn’t know how long he laid on his bed, crying, before Yongguk came into the room. Briefly as the door opened he saw Jongup carrying Junhong’s limp body over his shoulder. Yongguk seemed to notice. “He’ll be alright.” Yongguk assured calmly. “He needs rest.”

“What happened?” Daehyun demanded. “I have a right to know!”

“You’re not a member of this pack, Daehyun.” Yongguk echoed Himchan’s earlier words. “It’s none of your business what happened.”

“I’m going to be, though, aren’t I?” Daehyun replied. His voice was firm and angry even if there were still tears in his eyes. “You aren’t actually going to let me leave, no matter how much I want to go home. You’re just waiting until my preheat starts and I won’t have enough sense to fight anymore.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Yongguk replied. “Your promised two weeks are up in two days, Daehyun. If you want me to take you home then, I will. And, we would never take you during your heat without knowing you had agreed to it beforehand.”

“Then take me home.” Daehyun demanded. “They day after tomorrow, take me home.”

“Gladly.” Yongguk too readily agreed. Daehyun could not figure out why. “I guess that means tomorrow is your last day with us?” He came to sit at the end of the bed, a small chuckle on his lips when Daehyun crawled onto his lap and curled up. Yongguk’s arms around him were warm and comforting, his scent familiar and safe. “Is there anything special we can do? Any last-ditch efforts for the betas to make? You know they want you to stay so bad. They’ll be devastated if you don’t at least give them one last shot.”

Daehyun thought about it for a long time. He thought about what could convince him to stay, but all he could think of was the pain of his previous heats. Of all of the times his previous pack had hurt him, especially while having him.

“I don’t care who does it, but one of you could prove to me it won’t hurt.” Daehyun replied in a timid voice. He could not believe what he was saying, but at the same time he was willing. Even now in the face of a scary side of them he wasn’t expecting, Daehyun felt some trust and comfort with this pack. If they proved they wouldn’t hurt him too much, the decision to leave would be a lot harder.

“What do you mean?” Yongguk sounded shocked. “You’re not saying you want one of us to have sex with you, are you?” He didn’t seem happy about it.

“Not sex, just…” Daehyun trailed off. “Youngjae said something about stretching and how it would make it not hurt.” His face was bright red, so he hid it in Yongguk’s shoulder. Yongguk seemed to relax quickly.

“We can show you how that works tomorrow then.” Yongguk replied. He pulled back until he could see Daehyun’s face, and then gently pecked his lips.

The rational part of Daehyun’s brain said he still needed to go. He needed to run away. The irrational part of his brain was entirely delighted, and wanted to stay on Yongguk’s lap forever and just kiss him.

It wouldn’t hurt, would it? To let the irrational side of him win for just a couple moments?

He pressed his lips against Yongguk’s with a bit more firmness, and let Yongguk kiss him the way Youngjae had before.

They were dangerous. They wanted him, they were willing to lie to him, and now more than ever Daehyun was sure something was off. There was something they weren’t telling him. Their kindness was definitely given with the expectation of repayment, and they’re main goal was to have him. He thought of sneaking off in the the middle of the night to send the Busan pack a letter, to beg them to come rescue him.

But maybe, just maybe, they would really let him go.

Who was he kidding?

There was no escape.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He doesn't want to be pretty anymore. He doesn't want to go to sleep.

Eleven-year-old Daehyun held his breath and tried to keeps his sobs at a inaudible level. It was hot, in his pack’s home’s basement where he had hid behind the boiler, the only place left where it didn’t reek of blood.

Alpha always said that pack was dangerous. Alpha always said that pack was too land hungry, too ready to break treaties. Last week they had knocked out the pack next to theirs. Alpha said it was going to be war, that they and their neighbors would team up to chase this violent pack away. Busan was a peaceful region. A lot of packs were packed into a tight area, but everyone was kind, neighborly. His pack was fortunate enough to have a small forest where the turned wolves could run and let off steam, but for those more closely packed together there were community forests. It was tense, but everyone was good enough to each other that it didn’t matter.

This new pack, only a couple months into their new land after having moved from the other side of Busan, they were different. They didn’t seem to understand the way things worked. One of the omegas had come home a couple days ago sobbing, saying that they had whistled at her and hit her butt. Daehyun didn’t understand. His pack was disgusted and comforted the omega for hours.

There was a crash from upstairs and Daheyun could not fight back his whimper. He had run down here when he heard them coming, to the basement where he liked to hide when he and his siblings played hide-and-seek. It was nice to get to play with all of them, since usually he would be separated from the group, to light and breakable to play with the rougher older kids. He wasn’t necessarily short, but his stature wasn’t particularly large and he had some similar features to the omegas in his pack.

He was just glad the screaming had stopped. Each of the omegas, one by one, as his alpha cried out again and again with a begging tone for them to stop. Daehyun was so afraid.

Another crash and Daehyun’s unwilling whimper came louder. The noises from upstairs halted and the loud thuds from upstairs suddenly lead into the basement. They could hear him breathing and soon enough he was pulled from behind the boiler.

“Look who we have here.” Someone cooed. “He’s pretty too, pretty like he might turn into a pretty omega if we give him time.”

“How old are you?” Someone else barked. Shivers went down his spine at the harsh voice of an alpha.

“Eleven.” He choked out. “I’ll be twelve in a month.”

“I suppose we can be patient. Come on, kid, you’re ours now.” Deep in his heart, Daehyun knew something was very, very wrong.

Fourteen-year-old Daehyun felt dumb. He had been with this pack for almost three years, he knew well enough to he should fear his alpha. Still he found himself too willing to follow his alpha around, to stay close to his side and cling to him on the rare occasion he was allowed.

It was never clear what he could or couldn’t do. The rules changed hourly, and with each member of the pack they were different as well. Alpha was the hardest; he’d change his mind within minutes of saying something was okay. Daehyun’s arms were marked with bruises from being tugged around, and when his cheeks had been hit so hard it bruised and swelled up he had cried for days. Why would they bother keeping him alive if he wasn’t pretty anymore?

Alpha said he was pretty when he was beaten and bruised. Alpha said he was prettiest when he was black and blue and sobbing, because it meant he had been put in his place.

Daehyun swallowed the fear in his heart because Alpha thought he was pretty and that was all that mattered.

Newly eighteen-year-old Daehyun bit his tongue until it bled to keep back the whimper as one of the betas yanked him toward them. He wouldn’t reward them anymore when he knew they had some weird satisfaction in seeing him in pain. He had become blank-faced and angry, and despite how frequently he was punished for it he rebelled against them at every turn.

They killed his pack and then forced him to move around, at a grand total of ten towns since he had joined them as they were run out of every one they entered within a couple months. Why shouldn’t he be rebellious?

The beta pulled him too close and held Daehyun by the shoulders so he couldn’t push away, then dug his nose into Daehyun’s neck. “We were right!” He declared victoriously, pulling away. “Come smell him, boys, our dearest pup is going to be our pretty little bitch real soon.”

Alpha came to smell him first, the others bowing their heads and taking a couple steps back to show their submission. Daehyun wanted to fight and scream but he did not. He should be afraid of his alpha, he knew. Alpha would hurt him at the slightest disrespect. Alpha would hurt him just because he liked the way Daehyun looked when he was hurt. Alpha didn’t need a reason: he was an Alpha.

Still despite his fear Daehyun’s heart lept and warmth took over his body when Alpha pulled him close. It was the pheromones, probably. Daehyun liked to justify it that way to explain his weird reactions with things he didn’t understand. Being close to Alpha when he was being kind was the most heavenly feeling, and being praised just made it better. “Our little Omega-To-Be.” Alpha agreed. “What a good boy you are, coming out just as pretty as I thought you would, and soon you’ll finally be worth something too.”

Daehyun hated how good it felt to be praised, to be told he was good or pretty. He didn’t have it in him to fight. He didn’t have it in him to scream or argue. All he could do was smile and try to fight back the panic rising in the back of his throat. Why was he so afraid? Wouldn’t they treat him better when he was an omega? Wouldn’t he be able to use his position to get better treatment, bribing them with what they wanted?

And the pups, Daehyun was excited for that. He was excited for the swell of his stomach, the kindness from his pack as they celebrated the new life he was bringing to them. Alpha would praise him for bringing strong new members to them, and he would be free to spend his time raising and caring for them when he wasn’t filling himself with more.

His heart still pounded and nervousness trembled in his gut. Something about this situation felt so very, very wrong.

 

Daehyun couldn’t sleep. His heart was pounding. He wasn’t safe here. He needed to run. He did everything in his power to keep his breaths quiet and even as he waited until all sounds of movement in the house silenced, and then slowly, quietly crept out of his room.

On the first floor he was faced with a decision, either run out the door or go to the mail room to contact the pack headed back to Busan.

Flashes of them, bloody on the ground as he had seen his first pack told him bringing them anywhere near here was dangerous and idiotic. They would certainly come get him, and try to make peaceful contact with Yongguk when they did, and that would ultimately end in him being beaten in front of their corpses.

He knew about where they lived, straight down the main road and a left where it forked, and if he ran he could make it by morning. He took a couple deep breaths before walking toward the door, and trying to find a pair of shoes that looked suitable for his trip.

He had never been given shoes, and so his only real option was to steal a pair for the sake of making his escape. There were well-worn running shoes close to the door, and Daehyun decided they would be the most comfortable and the least missed. He ignored the stings at his feet as he slid them on, at how he could feel the stitches dig into the soles of his feet as he stood properly with them on.

The door was open without a noise, and slammed shut with a loud bang before Daehyun could make it through. Jongup held the door pinned shut, staring Daehyun down with those unreadable eyes. “You’re running away.” Jongup observed.

Before he could even think to respond, Daehyun went running. The was a large window in the kitchen he could likely crash through to make his escape, provided only he could outrun them.

He didn’t even make it to the kitchen before Jongup was grabbing his arm and pushing him into the nearest wall. Daehyun’s breaths were so fast he thought he might faint. He struggled and fought, but just like with his old pack, he was nowhere near strong enough to get away. Jongup held him to the wall easily, still like a rock as he waited. Daehyun’s sobbing grew louder by the moment as he remembered the feeling of his old pack’s hands on him, ripping him apart and hurting him. He didn’t want to be pretty anymore. He didn’t want to belong anymore. He didn’t want to be had anymore.

When it was apparent Daehyun was only getting more panicked by the second, Jongup stepped away the slightest bit. Before Daehyun could take off again, he was thrown over the beta’s shoulder, the shoes picked off his feet and thrown back in their place as he squirmed and writhed. His sobs made his begging near inaudible but still he begged, promising to let Jongup have whatever he wanted so long as he let him go. He was so afraid.

This pack was dangerous. They were just like his old pack. They would have him. They would hurt him. The two would be so intermingled that Daehyun would no longer remember the difference between them and sex would just be another tool for his never-ending torture. This was the moment the kindness stopped. This would be the moment when they turned into his old pack.

Daehyun was surprised when they passed both his own room and Jongup’s, and instead walked down to the edge of the hall where Youngjae’s room was. It was a little bit larger than he, Jongup’s, or Junhong’s room, the added size being granted to him because of a massive desk Daehyun had been forbidden to go near. Jongup didn’t knock before entering, and soon enough he found himself plopped down on Youngjae’s bed.

He struggled and fought once again, trying everything he could to get away. Jongup barely seemed to notice him, simply holding him by one wrist to keep him relatively close as he shook Youngjae awake. “I’m not giving you any sleeping pills tonight, Jongup.” Youngjae grumbled before he opened his eyes. “You have two days before you really need one.”

“Daehyun’s panicking.” Jongup replied. “I think he’s having flashbacks or something.”

Youngjae opened his eyes to find Daehyun alternating between clawing at Jongup’s arm in hopes of freeing his own or trying to run with enough force that his wrist pulled out of Jongup’s grip. “Can you keep Junhong from destroying my pillows?” Youngjae asked.

At the mention of Junhong, Daehyun froze. His eyes immediately were drawn to Youngjae, and in turn to the body next to him. They were spooning, with Junhong clinging to Youngjae and gnawing on his shoulder in his sleep. Yongjae seemed to think nothing of it, as if the light scrapes of teeth were something he was used to. Daehyun didn’t think he had ever seen any of them share a bed with anyone other than him before.

“Yeah, I don’t mind sacrificing a hand.” Jongup agreed. He pulled Daehyun forward until he could sit on the bed and Youngjae struggled for a couple moments to remove Junhong from his shoulder. The boy started whining, rolling around, and clawing at anything close by, until Jongup’s hand filled the space between his lips and he quieted back down to peaceful, gnawing sleep again.

Jongup still held onto Daehyun’s wrist with his other hand, and Daehyun began trying to run away again once he decided there was no understanding possible of the situation with Junhong. Jongup barely seemed affected beyond mild annoyance, and held Daehyun still as Youngjae ran off to his bathroom.

Daehyun had given up, sitting on the floor and sobbing with Jongup still holding onto his wrist, when Youngjae returned with a glass of water in his hand.

“Hey there, Daehyunnie.” Youngjae breathed, the cute tone returning to his voice in a way that made Daehyun want to scream, despite knowing it was just how Youngjae talked at times. “Let’s sit on the bed now. Just sitting, okay? Come on.” He was slow and careful about getting Daehyun to sit on the bed, and gentle and understanding when Daehyun temporarily began thrashing again.

Youngjae passed him the water once he had calmed back down to simple sobbing again. “Drink the whole glass.” He instructed softly. Daehyun eyed him warily. “It’s just water, here if we give it to Jongup he’ll even drink a little.” Youngjae took the glass away from him, letting Jongup drink a few sips before he brought the glass back to Daehyun. “A little water is going to wake you up a little and then we can talk, okay?”

Daehyun warily drank the entire glass, and tried to tell himself the funny aftertaste was just paranoia. “Is it okay if I sit with you Daehyun? If I put my arm around you?” Youngjae asked. The omega did not trust his voice to not crack, so he only nodded. “Alright, Jongup. I’ve got him, you can let go now.” Youngjae said once Daehyun was tucked under his arm.

In an instant, panic filled him and Daehyun tried to run again, but Youngjae held him still. “Youngjae’s going to help.” Jongup assured, and then turned his attention to Junhong, still asleep and gnawing on his hand.

“Alright Daehyun, let’s try something easy, okay? I want you to breath, in through your nose, out through your mouth. Can you do that for me?” When Daehyun started to, Youngjae played with his hair. It felt so good. It was several minutes before Youngjae spoke again, his voice soft and smooth. “Focus on the sounds around us, Daehyun. What can you hear?”

Daehyun got the feeling Youngjae didn’t want a real answer. He could hear Youngjae’s breathing and his heartbeat. The sounds were as familiar and safe as Youngjae’s smell. He could hear Himchan snoring and Yongguk tossing and turning in their rooms upstairs. He could hear the small creaks of the house and the soft sound of a breeze outside.

He could hear Jongup whispering, as softly as he could, to Junhong who was still asleep. “Don’t worry, Junhonggie.” He was whispering. “Youngjae said you probably only need one big dose this time. You’re going to be just fine. Yonggukkie’s even going to make new rules to make sure it doesn’t happen again! Alpha’s good at taking care of us, isn’t he? So tomorrow we’re going to be good and not throw fits, right?” He kept whispering, but Youngjae’s voice distracted him.

“Focus on the weight of your body, Daehyun. On the weight of my arm on your shoulder, on the feeling of your butt against the bed and your feet against the floor. Let’s just take a couple moments and feel our weight.” Daehyun felt tired, but he followed Youngjae’s instructions. It was only a minute before he spoke again. “How about you do a little mental body scan? Is there anywhere that hurts? That doesn’t feel comfortable?” Daehyun started to wince, trying to ignore the feeling of his pack’s hands haunting him. “Sh, you’re safe now, Daehyunnie. Don’t try to change anything. Don’t try to fight it. Just let your body be as it is.”

Slowly the feeling of hands faded from his body, and Daehyun’s head began to feel quite heavy. He rested it on Youngjae’s shoulder, his eyes drooping shut. “Let’s take a couple moments and let the thoughts in our heads run, okay? Try not to focus on anyone of them, just let them go and come as they please. If you get stuck on one, bring your attention back to your breathing and let it pass on.”

Daehyun tried, god did he try. It was so difficult to let his thought run wild, but slowly they began to pass him by. His old pack was dead, and however suspicious this new pack was, they would have never been this kind or patient with him. Even if they were suspicious, they were different.

They wanted to have him. He knew that. He was afraid of it, but it wasn’t like the Busan pack didn’t want to have him, like any pack wouldn’t. This pack was willing to treat him gently, and to let him progress on his own time. They had been respectful and modest at every turn. He was getting caught up in his thoughts again, he let them pass.

He was still afraid of his old pack.

He felt like they were ruining any chance he had at being happy.

His lips were chapped.

Even Yongguk was kind and patient, despite his coldness.

Junhong had clearly messed up somehow, but none of them seemed angry. Youngjae and Jongup were both treating him gently and caring for him.

Daehyun had tried to run away and they hadn’t hurt him. They had only spent time trying to help him calm down.

He remembered how he had thought the members of this pack worked in lovely symbiosis, calm and helpful to each other. It dawned on his that he had somehow worked his way into that symbiosis as well, somewhere between the time in which he had started to smell like them and they had started to smell like him.

He was still afraid.

Daehyun was barely conscious when Jongup spoke, his voice gentle and quiet. “He must have been really freaked out, the sleeping pills usually work faster than that.”

“Our Daehyunnie’s under a lot of stress right now.” Youngjae cooed in response. “There are probably a lot of scary thoughts running around his head right now and he probably can’t make a lot of sense of them. Hopefully he’ll be calmer in the morning.”

“He was trying to run away.” Jongup breathed. “It was lucky I couldn’t sleep, I guess.”

Daehyun wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what and he couldn’t get his lips to move. “The bit of water you drank should have had enough medicine to put you to sleep within the hour.” Youngjae promised. “And our poor Daehyunnie, so confused. You’ll have to stay with him tonight and make sure he doesn’t try to run again in the morning.”

Lips pressed to his temple before Youngjae spoke again. “Alright, let’s switch then. It’s time to sleep.” Daehyun was lifted and placed on Jongup’s lap, near deadweight in his slumber. Youngjae shifted under Jongup’s arm, scooting up until his back was to Junhong’s chest again. Jongup led Junhong’s mouth to gnaw on Youngjae’s shoulder and then cradled Daehyun as he stood.

His walk back to his room was a bit unstable stumbling as the sleeping pills Youngjae had mixed with the water began to take affect. “Goodnight, Daehyun.” He mumbled as they laid in bed together. “I can’t wait until you’re ours.” He pressed a little kiss to Daehyun’s cheek, and then fell into the same deep sleep Daehyun was already locked in.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Youngjae would do what he had to in order to make them all happy again.
> 
> The time came for Daehyun to go home.

“So this is it then?” Eleven-year-old Youngjae sounded too bright, too cheerful. “I’ll stop by next month to bring you guys everyone’s medicine, and you should watch Junhonggie closely. Probably keep him on a vegetables-only diet for the next month, and after that you can start adding a little bit of eggs or cheese to his food. If he starts getting agitated or his skin turns a bit shiny, put him back on vegetables-only. If that yellow rings comes back in his eyes, you’ll have to come get me right away because he’s going to need a stronger dose than what I left you. Definitely no meat for him for half a year. I know he whines and cries a lot about being hungry, but you really have to keep his portions small and let them get a little bigger with time. Part of the hunger is just the disease, after all, and overfeeding him while he’s recovering from starvation could actually kill him. Oh! And if he draws blood when he’s chewing on your hand, you need to put him in a time out.” His speech was so quick it was nearly dizzying, but that happened with him at times.

“Is that all we need to know?” Himchan asked. They were standing outside Youngjae’s house after many failed attempts to convince Youngjae to stay. “Anything else we should look out for?”

“For Junhong, that should be it. Himchan, if you start feeling nauseous and the feeling lasts more than a day, stop taking your pills and come get me. You’ll probably be fine, but it would be better to remake the dose to make sure there’s no fungal growth or anything. That basement wasn’t exactly well-ventilated.” Himchan started to wonder if Youngjae even really needed to breathe, meanwhile Yongguk was too focused to notice Youngjae’s quick chatter. “If Yongguk starts struggling to speak, take him off his pills immediately and come get me. I’ll have to try to make a new batch. If he shows any hyper aggression or agitation, he needs to be taken off his pills immediately and just don’t give him any more. Ever. And if you need more sleeping pills for Jongup, I left some in the bathroom upstairs. You should try to get him to sleep without them though. They have a small addiction risk and he is young so it’s a bit higher. It also might stunt his growth to take them too often,” Youngjae replied. He was much too smart for an eleven year old. Maybe growing up with a massive library and high expectations just did that to a child.

The library was more or less a separate building from the house, connected only by a hallway on the second floor. Youngjae had forbid them from going in there when they had picked him up, and when they had returned a couple days later to fetch the books Youngjae needed for all of their medications, he had gone by himself. Yongguk couldn’t help but wonder how the little genius had so quickly forgotten the way he came back shaking and sobbing at what he had seen inside.

“How about we help you take your stuff inside?” Yongguk asked, referencing the pile of books in the wheelbarrow behind him. “I know we’re not allowed in the library building, but we could at least leave them somewhere a bit closer than this, right?”

“That would be great!” Youngjae cheered. He was too cheerful. They almost felt bad for doing this to him.

With Youngjae carrying his two bags full of clothes and Himchan and Yongguk behind him with arms full of books, Youngjae lead them into the house. Predictably, he froze. Predictably, he had forgotten, just like Jongup had.

“What’s this?” Himchan asked curiously, nodding his head toward one of the many things on display. “Or should I say who?”

“My little brother,” Youngjae answered. He was trying to be tough. “He broke his bones pretty often, or Alpha did. Alpha thought he would be a good display of bone structure because you could see all of the fractures.” He winced, turning away, only to find himself facing another display.

“This one is one of the omegas,” he said softly, “Alpha made me help him soak her body in chemicals so the blood vessels wouldn’t rot, then we had to be really careful not to cut any of them,” he paused, “that’s how my sister died. Her hand slipped and she cut a capillary a little. She’s upstairs now, being the digestive tract.” They could see him cracking. His house was one of the hardest to visit. Both of them had puked the first time.

“You know the other houses have plenty of bodies if you want to keep dissecting and studying them,” Himchan said cheerfully.

“I think we got all of them,” Youngjae answered quietly. “Don’t touch her!” He shouted, when Yongguk got too close to one of the displays. “S-Sorry, that one’s my mom. I think it’s best to just let her rest in peace now. She’s been through enough.” He was shaking.

“You really did do a lot of work!” Himchan replied. “It must have been hard to do all of this, since by the end it was just your Alpha and you. Where is he, anyway?” He pried.

“His heart is in a jar in the attic. I burned the rest of his body and buried his bones around the yard, each with a twenty foot radius from the others,” Youngjae answered. His hands were twitching. “I sold his teeth to some merchants, too. I told them they were from a deer I killed. They’ve probably been ground up into someone’s ‘strengthening’ smoothie by now. His skull is smashed against the basement floor, if you want to pay your respects.”

It was silent between the three of them as Youngjae fully took in the house around him, and all those terrifying horrible memories came back. “Was it fun, getting to study anatomy like this?” Himchan pushed, trying to make Youngjae break.

“It was awful.” Youngjae’s voice was barely there. “If he wouldn’t have killed me for it, I would never have helped.”

The silence came again, and for a moment Himchan thought he had lost as Youngjae quickly wiped the horror off of his eleven year old face and went back to looking energetic. “You know, now that I think about it, you guys don’t really know the warning signs that Junhong is getting sick again, do you? And Jongup still need those calming pills occasionally, I usually eye-ball the correct dose so I wouldn’t be able to give you a correct amount. If you give him too much, it could be really bad for him! Oh, and you know Yongguk’s pills could have bad side effects, really quick ones! I should be there in case anything goes wrong. Yeah, yeah, I can’t come back here yet. You all still need me.”

Yongguk sighed. “Youngjae, you said you wanted to come home. You can’t just come back with us for some short amount of time again. Either you stay here forever or you join my pack. I can’t have you going and coming as you please, it’ll be too confusing for the kids.”

“I’ll join your pack,” Youngjae promised instantly. When Yongguk thinned his lips, Youngjae grew desperate. “Please, Alpha. I’ll take care of everyone. I’ll make sure everyone’s healthy and I’ll even help Himchan make sure everyone stays happy and follows the rules!”

“Is there anything you want, Youngjae? Anything to make this easier for you?” Yongguk asked.

“The books,” Youngjae replied, “please, let’s just grab the books in the library and go. Torch this horror museum to the ground and leave. Please, Alpha.” He caught sight of one of the displays again and started to tear up.

“Let’s get your books then. We can probably bring all of them back in one trip,” Yongguk replied. “Let’s go home.”

“Can I say goodbye to my alpha first?” Youngjae asked in a small, nervous voice. “I mean, just some final words before he’s really not my alpha anymore?”

“Of course,” Himchan spoke before Yongguk could, giving a sharp look at their future alpha.

Youngjae went to the basement alone while Himchan and Yongguk set off to gather the books from the library. He kneeled next to the broken skull, charred a bit, with it’s teeth ripped out and stains painted around it. Perhaps the poison on its own would have been enough.

“This is the end, Alpha. I’m leaving you for the final time. I have a new alpha now, hopefully one who will treat me better than you did,” Youngjae breathed, in a sad, sobbing tone. He took in a harsh breath through his nose. “I still think it was poetic to send you off the way you took Jaebum. You didn’t seem to think so, but maybe you shouldn’t have made me prepare your drinks if you didn’t want poison in them.”

“Were you ever afraid that we would hate you, Alpha?” Youngjae asked the skull, his hands clenching on his thighs. “With every dose you slipped into our food, with every pup you beat, every omega and beta you killed for your displays, did you ever worry you were going to lose our love or trust? Maybe you thought we wouldn’t notice? After all, I didn’t you were drugging me until you were dead and I went through withdrawal,” he paused, his voice coming a little bit surer. “I’m not afraid of this new alpha, not the way I was afraid of you. He wants what he wants and he knows how to get it, but he’s so terrified of turning into his alpha, he would never be able to turn into you.”

He paused again, to sniff back a couple tears. “I’m not afraid of him becoming you, I’m afraid that I’ll become you. That I’ll have to use your dirty tricks to survive in a house full of the most unstable people I’ve ever met, besides you, of course. I’m afraid that one day they’ll find out, that one day they’ll catch me slipping medicine in their food, whether it be what you used on me or just extra vitamins or something, and then they’ll hate me as much as I hated you. But I swear, if I need to use your dirty tricks and your messed-up ideas of ‘medicine’ to keep them from killing each other, to keep them as some vague semblance of a functioning, healthy pack, then I will. I don’t want to be you, but I’ll drug them all until they can’t move if it’s what it takes for the five of us to be happy again. And if I ever think my new alpha is setting down the same sadistic path you and the other alphas went down, then I’ll see to it he ends up exactly like you.”

He stood then, staring down the skull with the same angry look he had when he smashed it. “I hope your last moments were so painful they haunt you even after death.”

 

“Did I hear you correctly?” Yongguk did not seem happy as he stared down Youngjae the morning after Daehyun tried to run. “He tried to run away?”

“Yes, Alpha,” Youngjae said in a small voice. “Jongup found him halfway out the door and brought him to me.” He gulped, head bowed and tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. He knew he had failed this time, and Alpha would not be happy about it. “I gave him sleeping pills mixed into water, like I used to do with Jongup and Junhong when they couldn’t sleep.”

“Why did this happen?” Yongguk demanded.

“I told you there would be side effects,” Youngjae replied softly, “Alpha, there’s not much I can do unless you want me to destroy his heat cycle. This was at least partially unavoidable.”

“You didn’t say the side effects would include trying to run away!” Yongguk growled. When Youngjae whimpered, he backed down. “I’m sorry. I should not be taking my frustration out on you. I just thought you said the side effects would be less damaging — not responding to our touch the same way he had been, the return of his defiance at full force, maybe a little fear or anger but at manageable levels.”

“That’s what it would have been, but…” Youngjae trailed off, “but then Junhong happened.”

Yongguk sighed. “He always seems to relapse at the worst times, doesn’t he?” They were silent for a moment, and Youngjae closed the distance between them. He wrapped his arms around Yongguk’s middle and hid his face in Yongguk’s shoulder. Yongguk held him tightly. “I’m not mad at you,” he promised, “I know I’m asking a lot and with Junhong’s condition and Jongup’s flashbacks coming back, you’re a bit stretched thin. I’m supposing this means it will be a hard day to deal with the bitch, won’t it?”

“He might need to go back into the attic,” Youngjae replied, “or, I don’t know, you could take him home a day early if he’s really resisting. Jongup mentioned giving him pills before I was sure he was fully asleep, so if he’s aware that I drugged him we’re going to be back to square one.”

“Is there any chance he’ll figure out what’s going on with Junhong? If he knows, we’re screwed. You’d have to put him in a coma to keep him here,” Yongguk breathed into Youngjae’s hair.

“The bitch isn’t smart enough to figure it out, even if he’s heard the ‘rumors’.” He pulled away for a second, quirking a small smile as he tried to lift the mood. “Don’t be stupid, assuming omegas actually have functioning brains.”

“How foolish of me,” Yongguk agreed, “I forgot there’s nothing in their pretty little heads, is there?”

 

By the time Daehyun woke up, it was midday. They had moved him from the bed in Jongup’s room to the couch downstairs so they could keep an eye on him. He awoke with a start, sitting up and looking around the room with wide eyes. His head hurt, his eyelids were still heavy, and his body seemed slow and unwilling to move. Before he had jolted up, they had placed him to cuddle into Himchan’s chest, who was now looking at him with a startled expression. Youngjae was startled as well, sitting on one of the other couches with Junhong still chewing on his hand. Daehyun could see the massive bruise spread across his shoulder from where Junhong had been chewing the night before.

Junhong himself did not see fully conscious. His eyes were dull and half-lidded, his body near limp, and it seemed like he was only remaining upright because of how Jongup was holding him. It was like whatever medicine Youngjae had given him had turned him into zombie version of himself. He looked paler than normal, too, with taut skin the looked the slightest bit sweaty. His whole body seemed a bit skinnier than it had been the day before, and Daehyun noticed a small, yellow circle around his pupil, a faint contrast to his brown eyes.

“Junhong is going to be fine,” Himchan assured, sitting up as well and threading a couple fingers into Daehyun’s hair.

“Don’t touch me!” Daehyun shouted, in an instant hit with all of the fear and panic he had felt the night before. He threw himself onto the floor to get away, and Himchan simply looked back to Youngjae with a shocked and concerned look.

His breathing was a bit fast, and he was shaking the slightest bit. They no longer smelled good to him. They smelled like danger.

“Jonguppie, take care of Junhong for a bit.” Youngjae sounded as calm as he had the night before. Daehyun reminded himself that this was the voice Youngjae had used when he had snuck sleeping pills into his water. “Daehyun’s probably hungry, I should make him something to eat.”

“No!” Daehyun shouted. “No, I’m not eating anything you make!”

“I didn’t know you hated my cooking so much,” Youngjae teased, his voice affectionate and calm. “How about Himchan makes you some breakfast then? Or I suppose now we should call it lunch?”

“No,” Daehyun insisted, “I’m not eating anything made by any of you.” He took a moment to calm his shaky breaths. “Where’s Yongguk?”

Jongup snorted. “He’s the worst cook, Daehyun. Do you want soggy ramen?”

“I told you I’m not eating anything!” Daehyun shouted. “Where’s Yongguk? I’m going home.” He pulled himself off the floor, and found the feeling in his feet odd. They must have removed the stitches while he was asleep.

Himchan tried to reach for him, calling out a soft “Daehyun,” only for Daehyun to scramble away from him.

“Don’t touch me!” He shouted. “Stay away!” He didn’t want to fall for whatever trick they had been using on him again. The last couple of days seemed to blur together and Daehyun was no longer sure what to feel about anything.

“Daehyun,” Yongguk’s deep voice from the doorway sent a shiver up his spine. Any urge he once had to crawl up to the alpha and cuddle into his side was gone. He was disgusted to think that he had let these people kiss him, that he had asked them for more. “Is everything alright?”

Daehyun was not sure what they had done to him, only that he needed to get away. Their scents were making him dizzy and sick and he could not stop the feelings of rage that they had tricked him into being so gentle and willing with them. He had let himself get too comfortable, he told himself. He had let himself trust them too much.

“Take me home,” Daehyun demanded. “All of the packs in this area have come to meet with you, the stitches in my feet are gone, and your two weeks are up. Take me home.”

“Daehyun, we talked about this.” Yongguk approached him as he spoke, thoroughly surprised when Daehyun backed away. “We’re going to take you home tomorrow.”

“No, you’re going to take me home now,” Daehyun insisted. “I know what you’re doing, Yongguk. You’re trying to keep me here until my preheat starts so that I won’t be able to fight you any longer. But I’m not staying here! I’m not joining this pack. I’m not going to be your fucking plaything! Take me home!”

“You seem a little on edge,” Youngjae spoke up, “I could get you some more water, help you calm down like yesterday.”

“Fuck you!” Daehyun shouted in reply. “Fuck your fake-ass caring bullshit act and your drugged water! I’m going home!” His voice quieted, shaky but fierce. “I want nothing to do with any of you. I don’t want to see you ever again. You’re taking me home today, and then you’re never coming near me ever again.”

“Daehyun—” Himchan stood, reaching out to him.

Daehyun would rather die than let them touch him. He would rather gouge his own eyes out than let them trick him with their soft touches again. Daehyun didn’t know how they did it, but he knew he needed all of them to stay away. “Stop it!” Daehyun snapped at him. “I get it. You’re all fucking entitled pricks used to getting what you want, just like my old pack! You honestly thought you could trick me into staying here! That with enough gentleness and kindness I’d just open my legs like a good little bitch, because clearly us omegas are just dying for love and affection, aren’t we? Fuck all of you. I’m not staying here. I’m not going to be your punching bag, or your plaything, or your reward for being good. Find yourself another omega, because I’m no one’s bitch.”

The room was silent as everyone stared at him with misty eyes. His tirade seemed to bring the slightest consciousness to Junhong, who was staring up at him with wide, sad eyes. “It’s not your fault, Junnie,” Youngjae whispered to him.

“Daehyun,” Yongguk called for his attention in a calmer voice, “can we at least talk about this?”

“What is there to talk about?” Daehyun demanded. “I held up my end of the deal, now it’s your turn. Take me home. Not tomorrow, today.”

Yongguk’s jaw stiffened, and his eyes narrowed. For a second Daehyun grew worried he would be thrown onto the ground and beaten into submission, but his resolve was absolute. “Fine,” Yongguk growled, “you want to go home so bad? I’ll take you home. Let’s go.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was time to go home.

Youngjae looked paler than normal, with shaking hands and small sniffles when Yongguk found him hiding in the kitchen. He stood still at first, unsure of what to say, and then shifted from foot to foot as he tried to find some comforting words.

“I don’t want to do this to him.” It was Youngjae who spoke first, his voice small and hurt. It cracked slightly, but he refused to cry yet. “I don’t want to hurt him like this.”

“‘Jae,” Yongguk breathed. He still didn’t know what to say. “I get it, okay? I don’t want to do this either. It’s not easy, but he wants to go home. If he’s going to throw fits and demand he be taken home, the only real option we have is to humor him, isn’t it? Even if we know it will hurt him, what other option do we have?”

“Did it hurt before you took me home?” Youngjae asked. “Did you know how much it would hurt me to go back there?” He gulped, still refusing to look up from his hands as his whole body quaked with tears he refused to let fall.

“You know we did everything we could to avoid it.” Yongguk answered. “We spent a full week begging you to stay, but you didn’t want to.”

“Would you really have wanted me if I had wanted to stay, Alpha?” Youngjae’s words were a bit biting, his face hardening a bit. “You only want things if they’re a challenge. Nothing can be easy with you, you’d get bored. If any of us had wanted to stay, I don’t think this pack would really exist. So maybe it’s lucky, that we’re like this. Maybe we’re lucky he wants to go home. Otherwise, you wouldn’t want to keep him, would you?”

“Youngjae,” Yongguk couldn’t help but sigh. Of all of the members of his growing pack, he should have expected Youngjae to object the most. “Does it even matter? The fact is that we’re pack, we’re in this together, forever. And, frankly, even if he doesn’t know it yet, he’s going to be with us forever too.”

“He doesn’t want to be in our pack.” Youngjae reminded.

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t change that he’s going to be, or that he needs to be. I know it sucks that we have to do this but think—”

“Don’t.” Youngjae cut him off. “Don’t tell me to think about the options here, as if you don’t know I’ve gone over them one hundred times over looking for a different way to go about this. The only way to get him to stay with us any longer is to lock him in the attic or to drug him until he’s nearly in a coma. That would work short-term, but it wouldn’t convince him to join us.”

“And if he doesn’t join us?” Yongguk asked. Even if Youngjae already thought of it all, saying it out loud might help him accept reality.

“He has three options: wander the woods, go home, or join another pack. If he wanders the woods, he dies of dehydration within three days. Hunger within two weeks. If he manages to make it to winter, his body isn’t strong enough to handle it. No matter how lucky he gets, he dies.” Youngjae paused to sniff loudly, although his tone had taken up a near detached, medical quality. Hesitantly, Yongguk began to rub his back.

Youngjae didn’t spare him a glance, speaking again when he had successfully stopped himself from crying. “If he goes home, one of two things happen. Either I’m right, and he gets sick again the moment he walks through that door. The hunger gnaws at him until he goes insane, and we or another pack, a year or so from now, maybe six months if we’re unlucky, have to go back and kill the verified monster he’ll become before he kills us. There won’t be any saving him that time, you barely caught him in time in the first place. If I’m wrong, he doesn’t get sick, but he doesn’t have any food. Without the medicine, the hunger will come back, and he’ll either starve to death, become a monster, or join another pack.”

When Youngjae had seemed to stop talking completely, Yongguk egged him on, “And what happens then, if Junhonggie joins another pack?”

“He dies or they die.” Youngjae replied. “No other pack is equipped to deal with his illness, and the hunger won’t go away without constant medication. They’ll fawn over that hunger and feed him until he dies, if we’re lucky. If we’re unlucky, they feed him meat, increasingly raw as he throws fits over anything cooked, more and more and more because it will never be enough. Maybe they’ll kill him when they realize he’s becoming a monster. More likely, they won’t know until it’s too late, and we’ll be left with the task of offing him and burning the house down again.”

“What happens if Junhong stays with us?” Yongguk asked.

“I put the right amount medication in his food every day for the rest of his life to keep the hunger from coming back. We all constantly monitor the signs of his illness and control his diet and medication as needed to keep him healthy. If he relapses, we stop it from going too far, then bring him back into remission. With the amount of road we own, we’ll always have enough money for food, so he’ll never go hungry. It won’t always be perfect, but he won’t die.”

They were silent for a long time, with Youngjae stewing in his angst as Yongguk rubbed his back and waited.

“I just hate the idea that we’re about to hurt him.” Youngjae eventually whimpered. “I know we have to if he’s going to survive, but he’s only seven. Who would… who would willingly hurt a seven year old? Does it make us bad people?”

“Sometimes we have to do bad things for good reasons, Youngjae.” Yongguk answered. “If what we’re doing is to keep him alive, then we aren’t bad people.” Eleven-year-old Youngjae sniffled, leaning his head onto Yongguk’s shoulder. It was almost awkward, to be touching each other. No one was particularly affectionate with Yongguk due to their feelings on alphas, and respecting that, Yongguk was never really affectionate with them either. “If it’s too much for you, that’s okay. I don’t want to make you do anything you’re not comfortable with. So, if you don’t want to, you can just give me the medicine, and I’ll handle it by myself, okay? You don’t have to help if you don’t want to.”

“I want to be there for him.” Youngjae replied. “I want to be there to make sure he’s okay.”

“If you’re sure,” Yongguk agreed. “Himchan’s probably got Junhonggie packed by now, we should get ready to go.”

 

It hadn’t been an easy day emotionally for anyone, but there was some small satisfaction that accompanied the affection in his heart as he watched eleven-year-old Youngjae carefully maneuver himself and the unconscious seven-year-old in his lap. In the end, Youngjae had been right about Junhong relapsing, and that made it all the more difficult.

The two boys looked awkward, with Junhong just at the wrong size to sit in Youngjae’s lap, but Yongguk couldn’t stop the fondness in his heart. “I’m so proud of you, Youngjae.” He said, taking his spot next to them on the porch outside Junhong’s house.

Youngjae was still sniffling, a couple of the tears that had started falling inside still escaped him, but instead of sobbing as he had been before, there was a small smile on his face. “We did it, right? We saved Junhong?”

Yongguk wiped one of the tears away, smiling like a proud older brother. “You did, Youngjae. I don’t think I could have really done this without you, but you were so strong no matter how much it hurt to see him in pain, and you were so quick when it came time to stop everything. You did so well, and I’m so proud of you. You’ve saved Junhong’s life.”

A small smile bloomed across Youngjae’s cheeks and his eyes ducked away from Yongguk in embarrassment. After a moment, he pecked the top of Junhong’s head affectionately. “Junhonggie did well too.” He spoke to the unconscious boy. “Even though it hurt a lot, and it’s hard to think well when you’re so young, you figured out quickly what you needed to do. Now, I can make sure you’ll be healthy forever. Alpha will take good care of us forever.”

“Alpha will take very good care of you.” Yongguk promised, speaking in the third person to imitate Youngjae’s cutesy speech patterns. “Welcome to the pack, Junhong.” He pecked the boy’s head as well. “How long will we have to wait before he’s okay to bite us?”

“For the scars?” Youngjae asked. “By the time he wakes up, living blood shouldn’t be appealing anymore. He’ll be able to bite us right away.”

“Then, just a little more pain for our Junhonggie today.” Yongguk said. “And then we’re officially pack.” He paused. “For Junhong, I’ll promise he’ll always be taken care of, and he’ll never be punished for being sick. Usually I’d ask but… I don’t think he’d be able to answer for another week, would he?”

“I think those promises are good enough.” Youngjae replied. “Do you hear that, Junhong? We’re going to take good care of you from now on. I’ll teach the others what to watch for and we’ll all make sure you don’t get sick again. Alpha’s going to make sure you never feel hungry, too, and he’ll protect us. With everyone finding out the truth about what we did, I don’t think we’ll have to fight ever again! Everyone’s so scared of us now that they know.” Junhong whined a little, fussing in Youngjae’s lap until Youngjae let the boy chew on his hand. “Sh, Junhong, don’t worry. I’ve got you now. We’re pack now. Alpha’s going to take good care of us. Alpha’s going to make sure we’re always happy and healthy. Alpha’s going to make sure we always get what we want.”

Yongguk let his fingers run through Youngjae’s hair a couple times over. “Should we head back then? Himchan and I will come back to burn this house down tomorrow, but for now we should focus on getting Junhong home.”

“Yeah, it’s about time to go.” Youngjae agreed. “He’s reaching the chewing stage, and after this he gets a bit fussy. It would be better to have the others to help us in case we need to hold him down while he’s throwing fits.” He helped Yongguk take Junhong from him, the two boys struggling for a moment to get the little seven-year-old to calm down long enough to attach his teeth onto Yongguk’s shoulder and get him in proper piggyback position.

“Do you think you’ll ever find a full cure?” Yongguk asked. “It would be nice if he didn’t have to spend the rest of of his life afraid of relapsing.”

“Maybe.” Youngjae replied. “But I’m not sure I want to experiment on him. If we found other wendigos that I could test things on, I would definitely look for a cure. But, if it’s just Junhong, I’d rather go with what I know works. The pill grandpa came up with cures all of the symptoms but the hunger, after all. So long as we medicate him to control that, he’ll remain in remission. Although, if we ever give him meat, we’ll have to be careful. Anything with dead blood might make him spiral, so we’ll have to burn any meat he eats to a crisp to make sure it’s safe.”

“I guess we’re lucky we aren’t the first to look at someone halfway to becoming a wendigo and decide to try to cure them instead of killing them.” Yongguk replied. “And we’re lucky that person before us happened to be a Yoo that documented everything he did.”

“He did fail the first three times,” Youngjae reminded him. “And those first three times his experiments ended up dead.” He looked up at his alpha for a second, and Yongguk was relieved to see a lack of malice in his features. “That’s why I think we shouldn’t try to fully cure Junhong. It’s better to just be careful and watch him closely than to accidentally kill him.”

“That’s right.” Yongguk agreed. There was a pause between them, and then Yongguk spoke again. “I really am proud of you, Youngjae. I know how difficult it was for you to see him in pain, and how much you didn’t want to do this to him, but now Junhong will be safe.”

“I just hope we never have to do this again.” Youngjae replied. “Knowing our luck, we probably will, and I’ll help then too. It just hurts to hurt someone like this.”

 

Daehyun’s old home smelled of putrid rot. The smells he used to associate with the house, of pack and fear, were diluted with the stench of death that sat heavy in the air. Before they even reached the house, Daehyun’s hands began to shake. He stared down the field he had sprinted across and the rocks that had torn up his feet, and the memories of that night came back full force.

He almost threw up, the more he thought about that night. It had started out so typical, locked in his alpha’s room as he waited with fear for night to come. He had been too sore to move for most of the day, but by the late afternoon he had been able to wander in circles around the room. He had been wondering how he would continue to survive there when he was certain his pack was so close to killing him. Now, looking back as he stood by Yongguk’s side, he wondered if it would have been better if he died.

“Here you are.” Yongguk spoke for the first time since their trip began. “Home.”

“Yeah, home.” Daehyun repeated, as if trying to convince himself of the truth of those words. He could make a home here, he told himself. Without his pack, without any pack to use and hurt him that way again, he could survive on his own.

“Would it be alright if I came in for a couple of minutes?” Yongguk asked. “It’s a long trip back, I could use the rest.”

“Sure.” Daehyun tried to sound nonchalant. Secretly, he was thankful. It would make it a lot easier, entering the house with someone else instead of going in on his own. “If you don’t mind the smell, that is.” On the front porch, it was nauseating. He felt like he would have to scrub the entire house clean a hundred times just to get rid of even a little of it.

His hands shook as he opened the door, greeted by the increased smells of death and dried blood. Walking in, he tried not to think of how they had “broken in” their new house by having him against that door, one after another. He could feel the faint feeling of their hands and bodies tearing him apart. He was rarely allowed on this floor, even eating his meals separate from the pack, but that didn’t stop the few bad memories he had of the first floor tainting his thoughts.

His alpha laid exactly where Daehyun left him, although now on his back with his heart lying several feet away. The sobs boiled up before Daehyun could stop them, and he was not sure if he was crying over his alpha’s death or over all his alpha had done to him.

It did not matter why he was crying.

Shaky steps led his sobbing form to the side of his alpha’s corpse. His knees were weak, and his shaking legs barely managed to make it before he was collapsing by his alpha’s side. A gaping hole sat at the center of his chest where his heart had been ripped out, but the blood had long since dried and the corpse had begun to turn blue. Daehyun ran his fingers briefly over his alpha’s cheek and sobbed out a broken, “I’m sorry, Alpha. I’m so sorry. Please don’t be mad, Alpha.” He whimpered, low in his throat, as his whole form collapsed over the body. Why was he crying? He didn’t know.

“Did you love him?” Daehyun had almost forgotten Yongguk was there until he spoke. His scent was covered by the overwhelming stench of death and he had been near silent observing Daehyun up until that point.

“No,” Daehyun’s voice was barely there. “Having him be like this, it’s probably the only way I could ever even like him.” He sniffled. “With his heart way over there, so that I know that it’s real as much as I know that he’s dead and can’t hurt me anymore.” It took about a minute for him to stop crying enough that he could speak again, and even then his voice was a cracking whisper. “Why am I crying so much over someone who was so horrible to me? Am I relieved, or am I just stupid?”

“I don’t know,” Yongguk answered, “but if it helps any, I cried over my alpha too, after I killed him. I must’ve sat next to his body for an hour, crying and wondering why I was crying over killing someone who was about to kill me — over someone who had just murdered my twin brother in front of me.” There was a pause between them. “Maybe it’s a little of both. He wasn’t exactly kind to you, and now that you’ve escaped that terrible situation the relief must be there, but he was still your alpha, wasn’t he? No matter how horrible they are, I think we’re programmed to want to be with our alphas.”

“I feel like I killed him too.” Daehyun mumbled. “He was alive when I left. I mean, he was bleeding out slowly, but I could have saved him. I could have stopped and helped him, ran away with him to somewhere we could have been safe but I—” Daehyun paused, letting his sobs die down before he spoke again. “I didn’t even think about it. I just turned and ran away.”

“Would you be happy if he was still alive?” Yongguk’s voice was smooth and soft, and as he got closer Daehyun felt himself calm down the slightest bit.

“No,” he answered without hesitation. “I would have been miserable. All Alpha ever wanted to do was have me and beat me. He always said I was prettiest when I was bruised and battered and crying. If he were alive, I would still be living in that hell. That is, if we could have even gotten far enough for the Northerners to not find us. His leg was injured, they probably would have caught up.”

Yongguk no longer spoke, instead hesitantly crouching by Daehyun’s side and waiting. Next to his monster of an Alpha, it was clear Yongguk was never meant to be an alpha, at least not with his stature. He was smaller, thinner, less threatening despite his initially scary face. He was certainly a better leader than Daehyun’s alpha, and much more loved by his pack, but that monstrous size was not there.

“It would have been worse then, too.” Daehyun mumbled. “The Northerners already admitted it: they kept him alive just so they could all have me in front of him. Then, they would have taken me and put me back in the same position I had been in—locked in an Alpha’s room waiting for the next time they would come in just to rip me apart and beat me again.”

“Maybe it’s better then, that he’s dead.” Yongguk said.

“Probably,” Daehyun agreed. “But every pack I could have joined would treat me that way. Maybe not the Busan pack, but even if I was allowed to roam around the house freely, and even if they didn’t beat me, they would still hurt me when they had me regardless of their intentions. I remember the omegas crying in my first pack. They would always tell us pups that they were alright, but you could tell they were in pain. I didn’t understand then, I was just scared I would end up like them.”

“Not every pack.” Yongguk reminded. “We would make sure it didn’t hurt.”

“Why are you so insistent that I join you?” Daehyun snapped. “Why can’t you just accept that I’m staying here, without you?”

“Will you really be happy if you do that?” Yongguk replied. Daehyun did not answer him. “I just want you to think about your options, Daehyun. You’ve said it yourself, any other pack would treat you like shit. It’s not like you can join any of them. That leaves us, or staying here. And, yes, I know, you think you’ve made your mind up that here is the better option, but is it really? Living in a house of corpses? Even if you burn them, the blood stains won’t go away. You’ll spend the rest of your life haunted by the memories of the bad things that happened to you here. Is that what you want?”

Daehyun did not answer for a long time. When he spoke again, Yongguk almost couldn’t hear him. “What’s your offer?” Daehyun asked. When Yongguk simply looked confused, he spoke again. “Every other pack has come to see me and beg me to join them, and each of them has offered me up a hundred disgusting promises of what my life will be like if I join them. What’s yours?”

Yongguk thinned his lips, thinking carefully before he spoke. “You know us, Daehyun. You know who we are and how we act. You know how we’ll treat you, because it’s how we’ve been treating you this entire time. Have we ever hit you? Have we ever hurt you? Have we ever made you do something you didn’t want to do, or continued doing something when you were uncomfortable? I can’t promise we’ll be perfect. I want to, but I can’t. That’s the thing about losing your entire pack, especially losing all of them as a kid. It messes you up a little. It makes things harder for you. Frankly, it’s not like any of us came from particularly loving or kind packs anyway. But we try our best, and we’d try our best with you too. At least we understand you.”

“What are you going to promise me?” Daehyun asked.

“I promise we’d treat you well. We’d treat you the same way we treat each other. We’d listen to you when you don’t like something, or don’t want to do something. I know we aren’t perfect, but I promise we’d at least try to make you happy.”

“Give me some time to think.” Daehyun requested. He already knew he would turn Yongguk down, but it would be polite to at least humor him, wouldn’t it?

“I’ll come back in about an hour.” He said. “The kids made me some rice balls since I’ll be missing dinner, but I’m not really hungry, so feel free to eat them if you want.” He stood then, and Daehyun wasn’t sure if he was relieved when he left.

His stomach growled near within an instant, and while he was disgusted to eat near corpses, Daehyun couldn’t stop himself from wandering over to Yongguk’s bag and pulling the small set of rice balls out. He spent a long time staring at them, torn on whether or not he should trust them. “They’re meant for Yongguk, not you.” He mumbled to himself. “Why would they drug their alpha?”

“You’re being silly.” He told himself as he stared them down. “You’re being an idiot. Just because they gave you sleeping pills once does not mean all of the food they offer you is drugged. Maybe they were even being reasonable, putting you to sleep then.” He paused. “No, no they weren’t. There’s no excuses for what they did. But, these aren’t drugged. I’ll be fine.” He assured himself.

It was a relief that they only tasted like rice, and that they quickly filled his stomach so he could stop listening to its groans.

“I’ll be fine here.” He mumbled to himself. “I can make it here.” He was not sure he believed himself, and any confidence he had was lost only a couple minutes later, when he thought he heard something moving upstairs. His heart started pounding at the simple noise, so slight it could have just been the wind. He wiped his sweaty hands on his pants.

Daehyun could swear the floorboards were creaking. Despite being old enough to know the tall tales they were told as children of bodies coming back to life were simply fables, he felt compelled to check and make sure all of his pack member’s hearts had been removed from their bodies.

At first, he felt mostly fine. A little shaky, a little nervous, but he knew it was just the same nerves that had made him cry earlier. He made his way upstairs, trying not to think of how he had ran down them two weeks ago as he relived the memories of his pack dying the first time. He wandered through the rooms to find the bodies. Each room held it’s own horror, not just from the massacre or the blood, but from the memories. Each of these rooms he had been dragged into and taken in at least once. Each had their own painful memories that came back in hot flashes. He swore he could feel their hands on his body.

It got harder, with each one, to continue on. He was sobbing and shaking by the second, barely able to hold himself up. It was like he was in physical pain from how afraid he was. Still, the fear built up in his heart that they weren’t really dead. He forced himself to keep going, to check to make sure their hearts were removed, no matter how much he was crying or shaking. He needed to be sure they were all dead. He needed to be sure they could not hurt him again. With the memories ghosting their hands across his skin, he was not sure their deaths would really end his pain.

Even after he had checked all of the bodies, he still heard things moving about. He could almost hear their voices, calling him “bitch” and laughing about the way he screamed and cried. Sometimes he thought he saw them out of the corner of his eye. Something moving right where he couldn’t see it, it haunted him. He swore at one point he saw his alpha in front of him, coming straight toward him. In a blink of his eyes, he was gone. The feeling of their hands against his skin grew more and more concrete despite the fact that no one was touching him and ghosts did not exist. It did not matter that he was only sharing that house with corpses, they were haunting him.

He collapsed against a wall and found himself staring down his old room. The door was thrown open, giving clear sight to the false floor he had hid under, the cover not replaced. Shaky feet took him towards it and his whole body thrummed as the tears continued once again. It was like that small space he had been trapped in so many times was calling to him, trying to trap him in there again. He was paralyzed, unable to move as he felt hands that were not there pushing him into small space over and over and over again.

He could feel his pack beating him. He could feel them tearing him apart. He screamed, desperate and loud. The pain was too much to handle. The agonized wails lasted until his voice broke into hysterical sobs. It hurt so much he struggled to remember it was not real. The omegas of his first pack screamed in his ear and he could hear his first alpha begging over those screams over and over again for them to stop.

He wanted it to stop.

Daehyun caught a glimpse of the bed, of his blood staining the sheets, and could not help the puke piling up in his gut. In his panic he could see it building, growing. He hallucinated it spreading and dripping, and he could hear his own screams. He was not sure if they were real or not.

He lurched forward, his head hanging over the cellar he had hid in.

When his gut was empty of bile, now painting the floor in front of him, he turned and ran from the room. It felt as if he was pushed despite the fact that no one was there, and he tumbled and stumbled down the stairs until he hit the first floor, where he crumpled up into a heap and sobbed. His whole body shook and he could no longer tell if his eyes were open or shut. Even if he blinked, he still saw his old pack coming after him. He still felt them all over him and writhed with the pain they caused him. He tried to hold back his screams, not wanting to give them the pleasure of causing him pain, but it was too much for him to bear.

He could hear them laughing. He could hear them insulting him. Alpha was angry Daehyun had left him. Alpha was going to make Daehyun pay for his bad behavior.

He screamed, howled like he was in pain because he needed this torture to stop. Anything, anything would be better than staying in a house that made him hallucinate such awful things. It hurt so much. It hurt too much. With Yongguk gone, he was left with only his own mind, and Daehyun could not take it. He was not strong enough.

He could not tell how long it was until he heard the front door open and shut, but it felt like hours. He could not tell if the sound was real. The feeling of Yongguk’s hands on his skin, of his voice so far away asking if Daehyun was alright, he was not sure it was real. “Daehyun, are you alright? What’s going on?” The questions kept repeating but Daehyun could only sob and scream. It hurt so much. No matter what, he could still feel them ripping him apart.

“Make it stop, please, make it stop.” Daehyun begged.

“Make what stop?” Yongguk sounded frantic. Despite holding him, it felt like he was a million miles away. “Daehyun, what’s going on?”

“I want to go home!” Daehyun sobbed.

“You are home.” Yongguk replied in confusion. He tried to keep the omega from scratching his skin off, holding him close to his chest.

“No, no, I can’t live here!” Daehyun sobbed. “I don’t want to be here where they can keep hurting me! I want to go home where I’m safe from them, please! I’m begging, I’m begging, please. Make it stop! Please, Alpha, make it stop!!”

“You’re alpha is dead, Daehyun.” Yongguk’s confusion continued.

“Alpha, please!” Daehyun begged again, his shaking hands coming up to grip Yongguk’s shirt. “Please, Alpha, take me home! I want to go home, Alpha! I’ll be good! I promise I’ll be good, Alpha. I’ll join your pack! Please, just take me home!” Daehyun wailed.

“You want to join my pack?” Yongguk sounded hopeful.

Anything was better than the torture he was going through, haunted by memories and in such intense pain that it was hard to believe it was not real. “Yes! Yes, Alpha, please! Please just take me home.” He sobbed.

Yongguk cradled Daehyun in his arms, and carefully picked up his bag as well before he brought them out of the house. He sat down on the steps with Daehyun in his lap, holding onto the sobbing, writhing omega as he pulled out the water Youngjae had packed. Seeing all of the rice balls had been eaten, he sighed. Only one would have been a big enough dose, no wonder Daehyun was near incoherent.

“Let’s drink some water, Daehyunnie.” Yongguk said. “Be a good boy for Alpha and drink some of this water.” Daehyun was obedient, gulping down the water from the bottle held to his lips, and Yongguk just hoped it was enough to make him calm down a little. “There you go. Just like that.” He breathed, rocking them from side to side gently. “Let’s go home, Daehyunnie. The others will be so happy to know you changed your mind.”

Daehyun felt hazy, barely there. He wasn’t sure he fully understood the world around him, but the farther they got from that house, the better he felt. Yongguk smelled safe and familiar in comparison to the putrid stench of his house, and Daehyun choked down the last of his sobs slowly, only for them to come back when his head was clear enough to realize what he had just done.

“Don’t worry, Daehyun. We’re going home.” Yongguk said and Daehyun could not fight the small quake of fear. He did not want Yongguk’s house to be his home.

There was no escape now, was there?


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yongguk tells the truth.
> 
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“There you are,” his brother’s voice was relieved, if anything else. Yongguk didn’t look up and stayed still in his hiding place. Their house was a labyrinth on some floors to fit all thirty of them, with the potential for twenty more if their pack got that big, and so wedging himself into a narrow hallway near the unused rooms was enough to keep himself hidden.

Or at least, it would be if he didn’t have a twin brother that knew everything about him.

Thirteen-year-old Yongjun settled down next to his equally thirteen year old twin, with their shoulders and knees brushing as they stared at the wall. “Dad only said you picked a fight again, but who knows what that means.”

They were identical in nearly every regard, with only one difference that was major between them. Yongjun was a full head taller, and already had begun to take on the build of an alpha. It was clear between the two of them that Yongjun was an alpha, and Yongguk, another beta.

They were also the only two to know who their parents were within the pack. The pack had a very strict rule, no one was even allowed to know which omega bore them, but because they were the sons of the alpha and his mate, they were special. Yongguk did not like being special. “He was hitting mom again.” Yongguk mumbled. “I didn’t even hit him this time, I just told him to stop.”

Yongjun sighed, risking a small look at his brother and the red blooming across his cheek. The bruise would probably last a while. “Five more years,” Yongjun told him.

“Huh?” Yongguk asked.

“Five more years, and then we have our first runs, remember?” Yongjun answered. “When I’m alpha, things will be different. No one will hit pups or the omegas anymore. We’ll find some way to stop them from screaming all the time, too. I don’t know how our pack is fucking it up like this, but there’s got to be another way.”

“Who says Dad will actually let you take over right away, if at all? I heard some of the betas saying he might kill you because he thinks he’ll live forever.” Yongguk replied.

“He’ll be nearly sixty five.” Yongjun replied. “I’ll win.”

“Who says you’ll really be different?” Yongguk grumbled.

“You know I will be.” Yongjun replied. He had a way of talking that carried his smile in his voice, and his laugh carried light through to room when Yongguk put his head on his shoulder. They were best friends, and frankly, Yongjun was the only one Yongguk actively spoke to. “I’ll change everything once I’m in charge.”

Yongguk only waited, in silence, because he liked listening to his brother dream out loud.

“The first thing I’d do is make it clear to everyone that we’re a team. I don’t want to do this by myself. We were born together for a reason. Then, we hike over to the Yoo’s. Once Dad’s gone they won’t hate us anymore. We’ll make a new treaty with them, and I’ll give them the land we took back so that everything is settled. And then, I’ll get them to teach all of us whatever their weird trick is that keeps their omegas from being in pain all the time.” Yongjun said. “We’ll make a rule that no one is able to hit pups or omegas. No one’s allowed to deny them food for bad behavior either!”

“And then when all the betas cry bullshit because they aren’t getting what they want anymore?” Yongguk asked.

“The needs of the pack are always more important than the wants of an individual.” Yongjun answered. “As an alpha, my job will be to look at what everyone needs and make sure they get it, to look at what’s best for the pack and make sure it happens. Even if it’s not what some people want, even if they resist, what someone wants and what someone needs are two very different things.” After a pause, he spoke again. “In short, the betas can suck it. I don’t give a shit.”

Yongguk snorted. “You really sound like an alpha.” He paused. “But we can’t always put the pack first, right? What if it puts someone’s safety in danger? What if it means someone has to do something they really don’t want to? You can’t force them.”

“You have to force them.” Yongjun replied. “Pack comes before everything else, Yongguk. We’re nothing without our packs, no matter how shitty or broken they come. Even if it’s me having to do something I don’t want to do, if it’s for the pack then I have to.”

“That’s not fair!” Yongguk replied. “What if what’s best for the pack is for someone to die? You can’t seriously ask someone to do that! Or, there’s always the argument to be made that the omegas have to be had because the pack needs to grow, are you going to force them to no matter how much they object like Dad does? What if someone wants to leave the pack? That’s never good for us, but you can’t force them to stay if they don’t want to!”

“The pack comes first.” Yongjun replied firmly. “No matter what it is, or how terrible it is, we put the pack first. Without pack, we all die. We starve, people come and steal our land, we go crazy on our own, and all that terrible stuff. Even if someone has to suffer, the pack comes first.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re the alpha.” Yongguk mumbled. “I could never think like that.”

Yongjun straightened up a little. “You could if you needed to. You have alpha blood too.”

“Still,” Yongguk replied, “I’m glad you’re the alpha.”

Yongjun smiled a little. “And I’m glad I don’t have to do it alone. It’s better like this, when we’re together. Even if everyone in our pack has to go, even if life as we know it ends, we’ll be alright if we’re together.”

“Yeah.” Yongguk agreed. “I couldn’t imagine living without you.”

The two paused, their faces a little red. Thirteen-year-old boys were not so fond of honest expressions of affection. “So, I heard you visited the Choi’s this morning.” Yongjun eventually said. “Did their alpha finally decide?”

“He doesn’t like our alpha.” Yongguk said. “He doesn’t trust Dad at all, really. But he says once you’re in charge, Junseok can come live with us and join our pack. I have to make him my mate, but that’s okay.”

“It sucks that he’s starting to look like an omega.” Yongjun mumbled. “The Choi’s are even worse to theirs then we are to ours. But if he’s your mate, we can keep him safe.”

“Once he’s here, he’ll be safe.” Yongguk agreed. “We can make sure no one ever beats him or forces him, and hopefully the Yoo’s give us a viable way to make it not hurt him either. It’s just before he gets here that I’m worried about. He’s not that much younger, only a couple of months. What if he has his first run before us? The Choi’s Alpha is still trying to decide what he’s willing to do for me on that front. I mean, that whole mile you promised him is tempting, but who knows.”

“We’ll keep him safe.” Yongjun repeated. “The chance that he’ll be an early-runner is pretty low since he’s an omega.” After a moment, he spoke again. “I can’t believe I’m the one that’s going to be an alpha and yet somehow you’re the one that already has a mate.”

“Shut up.” Yongguk mumbled, but there was venom behind his words, just embarrassment. He sort of liked it though, the thought that in a couple of years Junseok would be his mate.

“Will things change once he’s your mate?” Yongjun asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t imagine what it would be like if you stopped hanging out with me so much in favor of someone else. I want it to be us, together, forever.” Yongjun answered. “You’re my brother and the world wouldn’t look right without you by my side.”

“We’ll be brothers forever.” Yongguk replied. “Nothing’s going to change us, Yongjun, we’ll always have each other. From the moment we were born to the moment we die,” he looked over to his brother, a small smile on his face.

Yongjun smiled back. “I can’t wait to see how you look when we’re old and grey. You already act like an old man all the time, I’m half expecting you to age backwards.”

A year later, the fourteen-year old twins could not agree. “We can’t kill people, that’s wrong!” Yongguk insisted.

“What are we supposed to do, leave them alive?” Yongjun replied. “This is a war, Yongguk. Only you, me, and Dad are left, and if we don’t kill them, then we die too.”

“Killing people is wrong!” Yongguk insisted.

“It is, but sometimes you have to do bad things for good reasons.” Yongjun insisted. “If it’s for the good of the pack, then it’s worth it, no matter what.” He took a deep breath. “Right now, this is our pack, you and me. Dad’s lost it, it’s only a matter of time before he kills us. We need to take him out, and then we need to finish this war ourselves. Kill the adults, keep the kids.”

“We can’t kill all of those people, Yongjun!” Yongguk’s voice raised a little. “And who says any kid is going to want to stay with us after what you plan on doing?”

“They’ll stay with us whether they want to or not.” Yongjun replied. “Anyone younger than us can’t survive on their own. They’ll die without us. Maybe it’s not what they want, but it’s what they need if they’re going to survive and live happy lives! Pack is the most important thing, Yongguk. Without it, we’re nothing. No matter what it takes, or what we have to do, we have to end this and give them a better life. A life where they’re taken care of and treated well. A life where they really can be happy.”

“That’s doesn’t change that it’s wrong!” Yongguk insisted. “Killing all of the adults left alive, that’s wrong! Killing anyone is wrong. Forcing anyone to join our pack against their will is wrong. We can’t do these terrible things and claim the moral high ground!”

“And when the adults finish killing off each other’s pups, then, were we in the right for letting it happen? We know for a fact all of the Moon’s kids were tortured to death. Are you saying its better we let that keep happening, let their alpha go after pups from other packs now that he’s killed his own? Are we in the moral right for letting him kill more pups? Dad’s been killing pups too, should we just let him? Are we in the moral right, for you, if we just stand by and let terrible things happen? And what about after they’re all dead? Will we be in the moral right if we let pups starve to death alone in their houses? Let them live just long enough for the neighbors to realize their alone and kill them for their land? Maybe one will be lucky to grow into adulthood, living in a house of corpses and slowly going out of their mind.” Yongjun lectured.

“I just wish there was another way.” Yongguk mumbled.

“I do too.” Yongjun agreed, his voice going soft. “But at least we have each other, right? No matter what, through this entire terrible thing, we have each other. We always will.”

“From the day we were born together to the day we die together.” Yongguk agreed.

It was less than a month later that he kneeled over his brother’s grave, freshly buried. “Yongjun,” he mumbled, tears still pricking at his eyes. “Yongjun, give me strength. Give me wisdom. Give me courage. You were everything that I’m not, please give it all to me. Give me the strength to finish this war like you planned. Give me the wisdom to know when to do what’s wrong in order to achieve what’s right. Give me the courage to do what I must in order to save whoever’s left and help them.”

He paused to cry. His hands were shaking, and every part of him wished only to join his brother in the dirt. “I’ll end the war.” He mumbled. “I’ll do what I have to, kill who I have to, and put my pack first, even if whoever I find does not want to be my pack. It’s what they need that’s more important.” He sniffled. “Kill the adults, keep the kids. I’ll be the alpha you were always meant to be.”

 

“Yongguk,” Daehyun’s voice was soft in the first time he spoke on the entire trip back to their pack’s home. Yongguk had spoken a lot over the trip, small whispers and comforts to try to stop Daehyun’s crying. Daehyun knew better than to believe such things. It only mattered to Yongguk that he came willingly and quietly.

Daehyun had stopped, right before the stairs of the porch into their house. Yongguk was already at the top, looming over him. “Yeah?” Yongguk replied. He was trying to sound gentle, Daehyun could tell. His voice always carried rough edges, but he was doing what he could to not scare Daehyun.

“I want you to tell me the truth, before I go in there.” Daehyun breathed. He looked up at the Alpha looming over him, apprehension written all over his face. “The rumors aren’t just rumors, are they? They’re true.”

Yongguk stared at him for a long time, and then sat on the top step. He patted the spot next to him, and would not speak until Daehyun sat with him. “Are you afraid of us?” Yongguk did not directly answer the question, but it was answer enough.

“Not because of your past, no.” Daehyun replied.

“Really? I killed over 35 people before I even turned fifteen. I turned myself into a science experiment to become an alpha. You’re not afraid of me?” Yongguk pried.

“You said none of you came from good packs.” Daehyun replied. “If that was the truth, if they were anything like my pack, then I can’t blame you. It’s the same reason I left my alpha for dead.” He paused. “As for the science bit, I’m not sure what Youngjae did, but it’s not like you’re a monster or anything. You’re a lot less scary than the other alpha’s I’ve known.”

“What about Himchan then? He killed most of his pack, including his alpha, all in one day. Then he joined in on my killing spree and had Youngjae make him a science experiment too.” Yongguk replied.

“Himchan’s one of the kindest and most loving people I’ve ever met. Maybe you’ve all been lying and acting for the past week, or maybe they did something to deserve it.” Daehyun replied. “I wasn’t there with him to see his pack and I wasn’t there for the war. I don’t know the circumstances. And with Youngjae and Himchan, did he even really need it? You look like you were supposed to be a beta, or at least you’re the size of one. Himchan might be pretty, but he doesn’t look like he was supposed to be an omega like me.”

“It was really just a precaution.” Yongguk replied. “His pack was convinced he was going to be an omega, even though he was always the right size to be a beta. He got hit a lot more than the other kids and treated differently in the worst of ways. Coming from that, it didn’t matter that Youngjae was saying he would be a beta. In his mind, Youngjae was an eleven year old so he couldn’t know better than his alpha.”

“I can’t blame him for not wanting to be an omega.” Daehyun said in a small voice. “I don’t want to be an omega either.”

There was a pause between them. Daehyun noticed Yongguk was being careful to keep space between them. Any time their shoulders brushed, he would move to give Daehyun more room. “What about Jongup?” He finally spoke. “A nine year old that managed to kill his own alpha and then defend his house for a full two weeks before we came to get him.”

Daehyun looked over to Yongguk, a sort of nervousness in his gaze. “Did his alpha really do the things people say he did?”

“That and worse.” Yongguk replied. “Jongup won’t talk about it, but we saw enough to know the rumors don’t even begin to cover what that sack of shit did. It’s what, twelve years later? Twelve years later and Jongup still has nightmares, waking up in a panic, thrashing around and screaming in the middle of the night. When he was little, he used to wash his hands until they bled.”

“How could anyone do that kind of thing?” Daehyun asked softly.

“The alphas all got sick at some point.” Yongguk replied. “To this day, we’re not sure if it was some alpha-specific disease or if Youngjae’s alpha drugged them, only that they all lost the tiny shred of dignity that they had before the war. Maybe that’s the plus side to being a science experiment. If it was a real illness, I can’t catch it.”

“Youngjae’s a lot like his alpha then,” Daehyun mumbled, “drugging people.”

“Daehyun.” Yongguk’s voice was sudden firm and sharp. He worried for a moment that he’d be hit. “You can’t talk that way.” He insisted. “I understand if you’re upset that Youngjae gave you sleeping pills, but comparing him to that monster isn’t fair. He did what he was used to doing. All of us, every single person in this pack, occasionally has panic attacks in the middle of the night, and the standard protocol for that is always a glass of water mixed with sleeping pills. It wasn’t some nefarious plot, it’s how we make sure someone doesn’t do something stupid and hurt themselves in the middle of the night when everyone’s too tired to stop them. Half the time sleeping it off makes it go away.”

“He still could have told me instead of just putting it into my water.” Daehyun grumbled.

“Would you have taken it if he had? If he walked up to you and handed you a sleeping pill, would you seriously have taken it, or would you have panicked more.” Daehyun didn’t answer, and Yongguk took that as his point having been made.

“Did Youngjae really do all of those things, though? Before you came to get him, did he really start dissecting corpses?” Daehyun asked.

“It wasn’t his choice.” Yongguk replied. “His alpha had drugged him so intensely that he couldn’t object to anything. No matter how much he didn’t want to do something, a hand on the shoulder was apparently enough to make it impossible for him to think, much less say ‘no’ to something he was being told to do. He said he was so desperate for affection that even when his alpha had just made him do the worst things imaginable, he’d still try to cuddle up next to him.” There was a pause, and when Yongguk spoke again, he almost sounded sad. “When he first got here, he wouldn’t let anyone touch him. Eventually, he let Junhong chew on him, and Jongup was allowed to rest his head on his shoulder when he was asleep. It wasn’t until he formally joined the pack that he’d let Himchan or I touch him. Even then, it took maybe two years for him to adjust to people being affectionate with him again.”

“That makes a lot more sense.” Daehyun said softly. “Knowing him, I couldn’t imagine him doing any of those things willingly.”

“It really wasn’t willing.” Yongguk replied.

“And then Junhong, he,” Daehyun trailed off. He understood why Yongguk stiffened, why he looked so nervous and yet so ready to argue and defend. “He was a seven year old.” Daehyun finally settled on. “A seven year old, in a house full of corpses, slowly starving to death. It wasn’t his fault.”

“You’re okay with it?” Yongguk asked, so much hopefulness in his voice.

“I’m learning to be.” Daehyun replied. “In the end, there isn’t really an option, besides you all, is there? What you said in my old house was right. No other pack would work for me, and I wouldn’t make it there on my own. You’re my only option.”

“Is there anything I can do to make this a little easier for you?” Yongguk asked. “Before we go in, is there anything I can give you or tell you that would make this even a bit more of a ‘want to’ instead of a ‘have to’?”

“Tell me the truth.” Daehyun replied after a brief hesitation.

“About what?”

“Anything.”

“I almost had a mate once.” Yongguk replied, his voice soft and sad. “Before the war, when I was still just a kid, I was supposed to have a mate when I hit adulthood.” The words were sad, barely audible. “His name was Junseok. He was Junhong’s oldest brother. Our territories bordered each other, and we would meet on the border to play together as little kids. When we got older, it started to look like he was going to be an omega, and he got scared. His pack was terrible to their omegas and he was already feeling the effects of it. So I and my brother,” Yongguk paused, “my twin and I went and convinced the alpha that when we were both of age, Junseok should join my pack as my mate. We were only thirteen at the time.” Yongguk sniffed. “When the Bae’s came to kill their pack, Junseok tried to hide all of his siblings. He threw Junhong in a suitcase and a couple of the other pups in a cellar. They caught him as he was get one of his siblings to hide in the attic, and managed to find everyone else besides Junhong too.”

Daehyun stared at him for a long time. “I’m sorry.” He eventually said, his voice rough around the edges.

“He was a lot of the reason why I insisted we keep Junhong alive. It wasn’t a good decision for my pack, or even just my own safety, but I was selfish. I wanted some part of Junseok to stay in my life. Junhong looks a lot like him.”

“Doesn’t it hurt seeing him then?” Daehyun spoke without thinking.

“It’s not as bad as looking in the mirror.” Yongguk replied. “My twin died during the war. He was the one who was meant to be an alpha. I never wanted this. I never wanted any of this. But that doesn’t change anything, does it? We don’t always get what we want in life, and it sucks, but we do what we need to, for our pack.”

“I’m sorry.” Daehyun repeated. It was silent between them for a long time, and then Daehyun wrapped his hands around Yongguk’s arm, standing and pulling lightly to ask Yongguk to stand with him. “Let’s go inside, Alpha. Even if you told them not to, I’m sure they’re all waiting up for you to come home.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, he stood back. He stood quietly. He waited. Home. Not yet. He needed time. Maybe he needed space.

Daehyun’s insides were doing flips as Yongguk stood. The journey home from his old house had been monumentally long, to the point that he had cried out all the tears in his body, drank the full water bottle Yongguk had brought with him, and then cried out the tears that allowed him as well. He was exhausted. He could not take any more emotional weight within the day, and it lead him to seem remarkably calm as Yongguk took his hand, despite the feeling of puke rising up in his throat.

He considered the front door for a brief moment as Yongguk studied his face. _Home,_ Daehyun told himself. He did not believe it. He did not know how long it would take, but right now this place was not his home. His nerves were on the fritz as his mind drew out every terrible possibility of how this would go. After his fit that morning, he could only imagine they’d punish him. This was where the pain started. Finally, wholly, that moment he had been waiting for seemed to be upon him — that moment where their kindness broke in favor of cruelty. They had managed to wait until he was pack, until he had no escape, but Daehyun was sure his good fortune was soon to pass.

“Don’t worry,” Yongguk breathed, and Daehyun was aware in that instant of how close they were standing, and how close Yongguk’s face was to his.

“Alpha will protect me?” Daehyun asked, the words tasting sour on his tongue.

Yongguk smiled a small, amused smile, and left a soft kiss on his temple. “I don’t think you are or ever will be someone that needs protection, Daehyun. You’ve shown us time and time again; you’re strong enough to take care of yourself.”

“That’s not what you’re supposed to say.” Daehyun couldn’t fight the smile or the blush on his cheeks. His head felt the slightest bit cloudy, and he wondered why he was so affected by their praise once again.

Yongguk shrugged and squeezed his hand. “Let’s go inside. I’m sure they’ll be excited to see you.”

Yongguk led him by the hand, and Daehyun let himself be pulled forward toward the door to a house that was not yet his home. That door stood, foreboding, and Daehyun was certain that if he were on his own he would not be able to open it.

So, he stood back. He stood quietly. He waited. Home. Not yet. He needed time. Maybe he needed space. That terrifying, looming door stood over him as Yongguk held his hand as his only lifeline. It was Yongguk who opened the door. It was Yongguk who lead him through. His steps felt rushed and unready, and he nearly stumbled as Yongguk pulled him forward with just enough force to keep him from standing still.

Daehyun kept his head tilted down toward the floor. Submission was something he knew well. Submit. He told himself. Don’t give them a reason to be angrier than they already must be.

“You’re fina—” Youngjae’s voice trailed off as suddenly as it came, and Daehyun supposed he had been sighted. He chanced a glimpse, to find Youngjae on the couch with Junhong curled up at his side, fast asleep on his shoulder. He seemed to have lost his urge to chew. Himchan and Jongup were laying down on the far couch, asleep in each other’s arms, although they were as quickly roused as Daehyun was startled when Youngjae’s voice came back only a moment later with a shout of, “Daehyun!”

Daehyun’s eyes quickly dropped. The hand Yongguk was not holding balled into a fist and he licked at his lips as he waited. His heart pounded in his ears. He told himself not to move. Compliance was the only way to make this hurt less.

Bounding footsteps came toward him. He could hear the other members of the pack stirring, waking. He could hear small gasps as they saw him. Before he could think to feel the fear that had consumed him for so long, Youngjae had appeared in his vision. His gaze was still directed to the floor, lowered like he was cowering, but where the floor had previously been empty, Youngjae knelt.

It was like he had collapsed in front of Daehyun, and he looked up with such hopeful eyes that Daehyun forgot how to breathe. “You’re back.” Youngjae’s voice had softened. Daehyun averted his eyes and nodded. He did not want his punishment to be worse for speaking out of turn. “Does this mean…?” Youngjae trailed off. Daehyun nodded again.

“Daehyun’s decided to join us,” Yongguk confirmed verbally, and Daehyun was not sure whether or not the feeling he had was that of his heart dropping. He no longer knew how he felt.

Youngjae took his free hand, clutching it in both of his as he looked up at an omega that still refused to look at him. “Daehyun, I’m so sorry,” he breathed, “I shouldn’t have given you that water without your permission. I should have been honest with you.”

“I wouldn’t have drank it, if you had.” Daehyun replied in a small, strained voice. It was not forgiveness, but it was an acknowledgement that he understood.

Youngjae stood, but did not let go of Daehyun’s hand. “Can I kiss you?” Daehyun was surprised Youngjae even asked, now that he was their property. He would not dare to say no. He would not dare to anger them more than he likely already had.

He nodded.

A soft hand ran underneath his chin and tilted his head up to meet Youngjae’s gaze. Daehyun gulped but held eye contact. Their faces were close. He could feel Youngjae’s breaths on his lips. Neither moved.

It must have been a full minute before Youngjae squeezed his hand and broke eye contact to lean in, but soft lips only pressed to his cheek before Youngjae pulled away.

Himchan was the one to come to him next, and despite his smile, Daehyun could tell he was nervous. He was hesitant, in speaking, too, even looking to Yongguk for encouragement. “Could I give you a hug?” He asked.

Daehyun was so surprised that his eyes actually bulged and he moved away slightly. He was not opposed; he had just expected much worse of a request given how nervous Himchan had been.

Himchan’s reaction was immediate. “Oh,” he breathed, “that’s alright. I’m sorry.”

Before he could step away, Daehyun dropped Yongguk’s hand so he could hug Himchan properly. His surprise was not meant to be rejection, and while he was confused with their behavior, he was not off put.

Himchan was slow to hug him back, despite how Daehyun clung to him. But sure enough, it came. It started with hands lightly on his waist, which slowly slid back around his middle, and then he was caught in a tight hug. Himchan nuzzled into Daehyun’s neck, and Daehyun could not help but return the gesture. “Thank you,” Himchan mumbled as he pulled away.

Both Jongup and Junhong came next, because Jongup was supporting Junhong’s weight. The beta seemed more alert than he had that morning, staring at Daehyun with dull but content eyes. With Yongguk’s help, Jongup carefully maneuvered Junhong forward to stand in front of Daehyun. Youngjae was no longer in the room.

Junhong raised his arms, zombie-like and clumsy, as he jumbled out the sound, “ha?” as if he could not force the word ‘hug’ from his uncooperative mouth.

Daehyun stepped forward into his arms, and Junhong held him much tighter than Daehyun had expected. He nodded to the others, who let go of Junhong so that Daehyun supported his weight. He could not help but rock them slightly from side to side.

“Junnie,” Yongguk called, petting the zombie-like boy’s hair as he spoke, “Daehyunnie figured out what’s going on with you.” He could feel Junhong stiffen against him, and a low whine escaped his throat. “I’m sorry. I know you probably wanted to tell him yourself.”

“Dae’yu—” Junhong whined. “‘m sor— I can—”

Daehyun shushed him. “It’s alright,” he assured both Junhong and himself. “It’s alright, Junnie,” he repeated, copying the nickname Yongguk had used. “The others take good care of you, don’t they? And I’m going to help take care of you too. Don’t worry about it. I understand.”

Junhong whined again, and clung to him a bit tighter than he had been before as Daehyun continued to sway them side to side. Mentally, Daehyun reassured himself over and over that it really was okay. He knew Junhong to be sweet, innocent, and kind, and no revelations of long-since-passed pasts would change who he was.

Yongguk took Junhong away from him after about a minute. Daehyun was surprised to see him hugging the boy in his arms and continuing Daehyun’s rocking motions. Given the others’ faces, he guessed everyone was, although once the shock had faded, Junhong’s expression twisted into a clumsy smile and he gripped tightly to his alpha.

Jongup raised his arms too, a small smile on his face when he caught Daehyun’s eye. “If I pick you up and spin you, will you get mad at me?” He asked.

“Go for it,” Daehyun replied.

The hug was near bone-crushing, but Daehyun found himself nuzzling into the space where Jongup’s neck met his shoulder without much thought. The moment his arms were secured around Jongup’s neck was the moment he was lifted off the ground and spun around. He felt warm.

He could feel Jongup’s smile against his shoulder and realized how entirely his nervousness had faded. They tricked him with their touch again, he was convinced. But was it really tricking, when he had already decided to stay?

When he was put down and parted from Jongup’s arms, he noticed Youngjae had returned. Himchan was helping him unload his arms, which were filled with thin plastic packages and jars full of balm. Suddenly that nervousness boiled up inside him, verging on fear as the two finished setting things on the table and turned to Yongguk. Daehyun did not know that the items were for, but he imagined the kindness would be ending soon.

“It’s time to make Daehyun officially ours, then, isn’t it?” Yongguk asked them, and Daehyun would have run if Jongup had not gripped onto his hand. He had tried to run once before when Jongup was holding onto him, and knew it to be pointless.

It was time for them to have him, Daehyun thought. His compliance was his only hope in lessened pain, but he held no real hope that the coming actions would be nothing less than excruciatingly painful. They were to make him officially theirs, as Daehyun had promised Yongguk he would be. This house that was not his home would soon enough be another house of horrors, filled to the brim with painful memories.

In the time that he was panicking, they were confirming an order they apparently were all meant to already know. Had they preplanned how they would take him so far in advance? He felt sick.

Yongguk stepped toward him, and Daehyun was not surprised that the Alpha was being given first dibs. What did surprise him, instead, was Yongguk holding his arm out, and trailing his fingers over the blank space on his forearm that followed the four small bite marks scarred to him. “Remember to bite as hard as you can,” Yongguk was telling him.

Daehyun’s head was swimming. “What?” He asked, because his confusion was no longer bearable.

Yongguk, too, looked surprised— surprised by Daehyun’s surprise. “You’re joining the pack,” Yongguk clarified. “So we’re going to bite each other, like everyone else has. You need to bite hard enough to break the skin and make the wound somewhat deep, otherwise it won’t scar as well.” He trailed his fingers over the blank part of his arm again. “Bite here,” he instructed.

Daehyun was confused, still, but less so. Would they have him after, then?

He bit as hard as he could into Yongguk’s arm, leaving a clean, deep cut next to the others. Jongup held Daehyun’s arm out to keep it steady, and Yongguk bit him as well. Daehyun let out a low whine and tried to move away, but Jongup help him still.

Once Yongguk had let go of his arm, Youngjae and Jongup stepped between them. Jongup took some of the balm and rubbed it over the bite on Daehyun’s arm, and Daehyun hissed again as it stung at the wound. Then, he opened a small package to reveal gauze and tape, with which he covered the wound. Youngjae had done the same to Yongguk.

“The balm makes it scar,” Jongup explained. “It’ll also stop it from getting infected.”

Daehyun nodded, a little more prepared when Himchan came up to him. Unlike Yongguk, who had been silent and unmoving when Daehyun bit him, Himchan whined quite a bit, and Jongup had to hold his arm still. They repeated the process, and then once more with Jongup, then Youngjae, and then Junhong.

With Junhong there had been a pause after Daehyun had bit his arm, but before he had raised his own for Junhong to bite. “Will he be okay? Or will the blood make him sick?” He asked.

“He’ll be fine,” Youngjae assured.

Daehyun was hesitant to offer his arm, but he still did. Junhong was the quickest to pull off of the bunch, and Daehyun was relieved to see he seemed to be in the same state as before.

His arm was numb from how much it stung, the balm stinging at each of the five bites marking him as theirs as much as he had marked them as his. Strangely, it took no time for them to smell better. They smelled like pack to him, and there was some comfort in that that he was not used to.

“Daehyun,” Youngjae called his attention, “if I give you a pill that will keep you from getting too anxious, will you take it? We aren’t going to do anything, there’s just something to talk about and we don’t want you to be afraid.”

“Will it do anything else to me?” Daehyun asked.

“No,” Youngjae replied. “Everything will stay the same, you just won’t feel anxious.” Daehyun agreed, anxiously, and swallowed the pill offered to him.

He was lost within himself because the situation remained so odd to him. There was no hesitation and no falter in their kindness. While his previous pack had been a fault line, they were steady ground. Baited breaths slowly turned loose and easy as he waited for pain that did not come.

“Can we all hug you again?” Himchan asked, after a moment of whispering with Jongup and Youngjae. “I’m sorry, if we’re being clingy. We’re all just really happy.”

Daehyun decided to test it. A simple placebo effect from a pill not yet incorporated into his system flooded him with just the right amount of confidence to dare their kindness to break. “No,” he answered. “I’d rather you all didn’t hug me again.”

It was a dare in the truest sense. Some part of him wanted them to react the way his old pack would. Some part of him felt guilty for not being a proper toy to them, and perhaps that part of him believed he should be punished. But, that little voice that told him that he as an omega had to be quiet, willing, and submissive was met with no evidence to back up its previously well-substantiated claims. Himchan shrugged, and then hugged Jongup tightly instead. Youngjae stood and waited his turn for a hug from one of the two of them.

Daehyun felt worse. “Youngjae, you didn’t hug me before, so you can hug me once.” That, in itself, was a dare as well. Would they be upset with him for favoring one over the others?

In his old pack, he would likely be bloodied by this point.

“Are you sure?” Youngjae asked. “You don’t have to hug me if you don’t want to, Daehyun.” He assured.

“I’m sure,” Daehyun asserted. When Youngjae hesitated and stared, as if trying to decode the truthfulness of Daehyun’s words through his facial expression, a sigh escaped him. They were being even more cautious than they had been before he joined them. Some part of him — a part which was light, airy, childish, and trusting — cheered and spun with glee because the stinging marks on his arm ascertained he belonged to them regardless of his own feelings, but they still treated him so kindly. Another part of him — pessimistic, jaded, scared, and distrustful — told that first part to shut up because certainly this would pass.

It was he who stepped forward and pulled Youngjae into his arms. Youngjae was not slow to hug him back, but he was slow to do so with any strength or presence. He pulled away not long after.

Daehyun felt the slightest bit dizzy, and stumbled to the couch, where he sat down. His stomach grumbled loudly, and he rested his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. “Are you okay?” Youngjae asked. “Have you eaten anything yet?”

“He ate the rice balls you guys made for me.” Yongguk filled in when Daehyun did not answer. “I wasn’t hungry, so I gave them to him.”

“Did he drink anything?” Himchan asked, his voice quiet and filled with worry.

“I made sure he drank the whole water bottle.” Yongguk assured. A small inkling of suspicion filled Daehyun, but he quickly swallowed it down. Whether he liked it or not, this was his pack. Spending all of his time being suspicious of them would only make him miserable. “Can you take Junhong?” He asked Daehyun.

Daehyun nodded and held his arms out, helping pull Junhong to curl up by his side on the couch.

“We’ll go get you something to eat and drink, if that’s alright,” Himchan said.

His words only reminded Daehyun of the fit he had thrown this morning. His head was pounding and it hurt to keep his eyes open. “That’s fine,” he mumbled.

The four of them left the room, and it was more than ten minutes before they returned. In that time, Daehyun could feel the anti-anxiety pill begin to work as his heartbeat calmed and he felt the slightest bit more steady in the world, outside of his dizziness.

From inside the kitchen, he could not hear their whispers.

“You weren’t supposed to give him all of them,” Youngjae hissed, his voice near inaudible even to those in the room. “What were you thinking?”

“I just left them in the house with him!” Yongguk defended, just as quiet. “I didn’t think he would eat all of them!” He thinned his lips. “I made sure he drank the entire water bottle, at least. You said there was more then enough of the antidote for double the dosage in the rice balls.”

Himchan cut in next, “we probably didn’t need to give him the anti-anxiety pill then, did we? With the side effects of the medicine you put in the water bottle.”

“He would still get nervous, wouldn’t he?” Jongup asked. “I thought it made it hard for him to react or act as if he wasn’t calm, but he can still feel anxious.” Youngjae confirmed that he was right. “So he needed the pill too, or he’d still feel really scared even if he couldn’t show it.”

“Is he too drugged to think clearly right now?” Yongguk whispered. “I’m not letting him make this decision when he isn’t fully conscious, and given that you didn’t give him his medicine today, we don’t have long before that’s impossible. Having to wait until this first heat is over would be unnecessary torture for everyone.”

“None of the drugs we’ve given him today go anywhere near that part of the brain,” Youngjae replied. “Any decision he’s made or makes right now is solidly clear-minded. We probably really only have a couple hours left of that, though. Yesterday’s medicine will wear off by midnight, and then he’ll be too out of it to have an opinion on anything at all.”

Daehyun could not hear them from the living room, where he sat with Junhong, hugging the boy close to him. “Are you feeling okay, Junhong?” Daehyun asked quietly.

Junhong gave an exaggerated nod against his chest.

“How long until you’re back to normal?” Daehyun asked.

“Two,” Junhong answered, although the ‘t’ nearly sounded like a ‘d’ and the ‘o’ was held out much longer than necessary.

“Two more days?” Daehyun asked. Junhong nodded against him. “Will you be like this for the rest of that?” He asked. Another nod. “Did the others take care of you today? Or were they mean? Did they yell at you or hit you at all?”

“Ne’er,” Junhong replied. “They… goo’ care… me.”

“They take good care of you?” Daehyun clarified, and Junhong nodded once again. He couldn’t fight the small amount of relief at that. Junhong was clearly not conscious enough to lie to him, and so that meant they really hadn’t punished Junhong. Of course, Junhong was a beta, and maybe they would behave differently with him as he was an omega.

Soon enough, the four of them left the kitchen, bringing him a large bowl of soup to eat.

“Before you eat,” Yongguk said, “we have something we need to talk to you about. The anti-anxiety pill should be working by now.”

He motioned for Youngjae to speak, and Daehyun noted it looked like Youngjae needed a pill too. “So, I have a confession to make,” he mumbled.

“We have a confession to make,” Yongguk corrected.

“Right,” Youngjae shrunk slightly. He was clearly much too nervous. “We have a confession to make. You’re first couple of days here, you went through that mini-preheat-like thing, if you remember.” Daehyun confirmed he did. “That wasn’t some random mini-preheat-like thing. That was the beginning of your actual preheat. You seemed really freaked out so I decided—”

“We decided,” Himchan corrected.

“We decided to give you a pill that would suppress your preheat,” Youngjae said. “It can only work on the early stages of preheat, when the omega can still manage to be alone for brief periods of time and when sitting in the same room or next to someone is enough to satisfy it. Once you reach the stage where the omega can’t be alone or needs to be touching someone at all times, taking the suppressor pill will only fuck up the omega’s heat cycle.”

“You’re supposed to be reaching that second stage the day after tomorrow. We have to stop giving you the suppressors then.” Himchan said.

“Before, they didn’t have many side effects,” Youngjae was quick to say. “They lowered the symptoms of your preheat so you wouldn’t feel cold or in pain when you were alone, and we shouldn’t have smelled as good. It should have lowered your want to touch us and your response to our touch too. It’s not healthy to fully suppress a preheat though, at least not for more than three days at a time, and those three days must all be in a row. Once the medication stops, you can’t go back on it.”

“I’ll take blame for the rest of this,” Yongguk cut in. “I wanted you to make the decision on whether or not to stay by yourself, without hormones messing with you. So yesterday I had them give you the full suppressor to get rid of your preheat entirely at dinner. You’ve missed the next dose, so you can’t start taking it again, but you were supposed to take it for today and tomorrow too so you could have time to think clearly and make your decision.”

“As of tomorrow, your preheat will come back. The day after, it will hit the more intense stage. After that, it’ll be a couple days until you go into heat,” Himchan said.

“So, it’s your decision, and you need to make it now, whether or not you want us to have you during your heat. If you say no, none of us will have you and we’ll just try to make it as comfortable as possible for you. No one will be angry with you, you won’t be in trouble, and nothing bad will happen to you if you say no. If you say yes, you get to decide the terms and you can change your mind at any point.”

Daehyun stared, mouth agape, for a long time. His whole body shook with rage and betrayal. “Fuck you. Honestly, fuck all of you.” He shook harder. Tears came to his eyes without him wanting them there. “I don’t care if it was good for me or to make me more comfortable or whatever other bullshit you’re going to try to use to justify this, stop drugging me! What the fuck is wrong with all of you?! You don’t give someone medicine without telling them! It should be my choice what goes in my body, you don’t get to decide for me because you think it will make me feel better!”

“Daehyun—” Youngjae was cut off before he could even finish a sentence.

“Shut up!” Daehyun spat. “You know what? Fine. Fuck me through my heat. You’re all so fine with making decisions about what’s right to put in me without my input anyway, I’m surprised you even asked!”

“You don’t have to let us—” Himchan tried.

“Would you stop? I’ve already told you, I don’t give a shit anymore! What’s the point? How am I supposed to know what feelings are really mine anyway? I spent the past two weeks thinking I was fucking crazy for letting you all cling to me all the time and wanting to kiss you, but it turns out I’ve just been in fucking preheat? You’ve clearly all put a lot of work into getting me to open my legs for you, so that’s it! You can have me during my heat! But, if you ever drug me again, I will make you regret it.” Daehyun stood, storming toward the stairs as he spoke. He stood on the last step as he finished his rant, before turning to go up the stairs.

“Daehy—” Youngjae tried objecting again.

Yongguk silenced him. “If you change your mind once you’ve calmed down, just tell us,” Yongguk told him.

“Fuck you," Daehyun replied, before storming away to his room.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it would be okay. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe it wouldn't be okay.

Daehyun wasn’t surprised that he woke up with a pack member in his bed, nor was he surprised that they had picked Junhong to stay with him. He supposed they no longer considered him a flight risk, with the marks that itched on his arm sealing him to them, but they were concerned about his preheat coming back. He almost appreciated them picking Junhong, as if they understood he was angry at all of them, but he was holding back any ill feelings toward the baby of the group until his illness had passed. Perhaps they remembered that he had picked Junhong to stay with first as well.

Junhong’s arms were warm around his middle, and his nose scrunched a little every once in awhile as he slept. “Do you dream of being a wendigo?” Daehyun murmured, careful not to wake the boy up. “Is this why you weren’t allowed to turn when the full moon hit last week? Would you turn into a wendigo instead of a wolf?” He knew the questions would hurt Junhong’s feelings. Everyone seemed to avoid acknowledging what he was as much as possible, and he remembered again Junhong’s distress whenever someone mentioned the ‘rumors’.

Daehyun had started to wonder if they had pretended their pasts were made up rumors for his sake, or for Junhong’s. He allowed himself one more terrible question before he would stop. “If I bear a pup that’s yours, will it be a wendigo too?” Maybe he should ask Youngjae about that. It seemed important. Would the pup try to eat him?

Junhong whined in his sleep.

He played with Junhong’s hair absent-mindedly. When Junhong’s arms tightened around his middle, he scooted a little closer so their faces were only about an inch apart. Junhong smelled familiar and safe, and his body was warm against Daehyun’s. His breaths puffed against Daehyun’s lips, making them tingle.

He stared, blankly, as he let himself assess the situation. The marks on his arms swore him to this pack in something unbreakable. If he ran, he would not make it far. It was taboo for someone of another pack to touch him, as a bitten omega, although they would likely pick him up to bring him back to this pack if they found him away from it. That action, alone, escaped the taboo. He wondered if any of them had thought of that when they bit him. Biting each other had a different meaning — when there are so many bites up a beta or alpha’s arm, it’s clear that it’s a mark of allegiance in pack. But for an omega, it’s like each had marked him as property. With his bites on their arms, the meanings became cloudy and confusing, but still, he wondered if they had thought of it before they bit him — of how the meaning would be different. Maybe they liked the feeling of owning him.

He had been so out of it the night before, he hadn’t really thought about it. His mind had been reeling only with questions of when he would be hit and why they hadn’t hit him yet, to the point that he hadn’t thought about much else until their big secret was revealed.

It was surprising to him, the fact that they hadn’t hit him. He had been on his worst behavior since arriving, and yet they never even slapped him. Some part of him had been certain as he cursed them out and stormed off the night before that he would be beaten until he could not move, and yet it never really seemed like an option to them.

Daehyun took a mental step back. Had it ever seriously seemed like they would hurt him? Beyond his terrified mind feeding him lies about the world around him because of his past, had there really been any concern that they might hit him or hurt him?

No.

No one had so much as raised a hand to him. No one had ever told him he would be hit or punished if he continued. It never seemed to be an option.

With that, Daehyun took another metaphorical step back, to really think about how his life had been since he arrived here. He swallowed down any thoughts of how they had drugged him, at least at first, because he was still too hurt over it to think rationally.

They had never hurt him. They had never given him the slightest reason to believe they would hurt him. Even when he was screaming or fighting, they did not give him a reason to think they would hurt him.

They had never forced him. He had said what his boundaries were, and they were always respected. The rest of the pack would rarely even kiss him without Daehyun starting it, and for the most part they would always ask for permission first. Even after they had bit him, they asked for permission for something as simple as a hug. It felt like they were constantly monitoring his reactions to everything in order to make sure they weren’t doing something he didn’t like, even after he gave permission. He thought about how Youngjae had stared at him the night before as if trying to figure out if it really was okay for him to kiss Daehyun. He thought about how when his face betrayed that it wasn’t, Youngjae pecked his cheek instead.

Outside of the drugs, had they ever given him a reason to feel suspicious or worried about them? Had they ever done anything bad to him at all?

No.

Not really.

There were arguments to be made about how they had kept him there against his will, but as much as Daehyun didn’t want to admit it, he would have died if they hadn’t. After all, it was dangerous, as an omega, for him to be out there on his own. Most packs would have him and kill him without hesitation.

Even if it hadn’t been what he wanted, it had been what was best for him. That lead Daehyun to the drugs. He was upset, and he would stay upset, but perhaps in the morning light it became a bit clearer why they had done what they had. The sleeping pills made more sense now, with the added information that it was standard. Youngjae had done what he always did, what the pack expected him to do when someone was panicking in the middle of the night. It sucked, but it made sense.

And the suppressors? Daehyun was furious. He felt betrayed and violated, but even then, he understood. He would not forgive them, but he understood. They wanted him to feel comfortable. They didn’t want him to feel forced, under the threat of physical pain, to be close to them because of his preheat. He didn’t like sharing a bed with them, he was frustrated with how easy he was, and he was terrified of his heat. They shouldn’t have made the decision without him, but at least he understood the decision they made.

Some part of him appreciated that they gave him the full suppressors so he could make decisions without the heat hormones. Most of him hated them for not telling him.

But that was it. That was the only terrible thing he knew of them doing to him. They had taken him home without complaints. Yongguk had willingly given him time to decide in his home and space when he asked for it. Yongguk had come to his rescue after the house had made him hallucinate and done what he could to help Daehyun calm down. On the way back it had started to feel like he couldn’t be scared anymore, like Yongguk’s presence as a kind and safe alpha had removed that emotion from him. As far as he knew, they had never even called him ‘bitch’!

As far as Daehyun knew, outside of the sleeping pills and the suppressors, they were perfect. And knowing them, after his fit the night before they would likely never drug him without his permission again.

Maybe he could learn to be happy here.

Daehyun did not think he could think of this place as his home. He did not think he could think of any house as his home. That was a concept that had died over a decade ago with his pack, as he hid behind a boiler unknowing of how he was about to enter the worst years of his life.

But now, he had hope that the next ones would be better. It wasn’t perfect, but he would try his best to be happy. He promised himself to stop being afraid of them hitting or forcing him. He would try to believe that they would treat him well. They had never given him a real reason to believe otherwise.

Staring at Junhong’s peaceful expression, with their foreheads pressed together and their bodies pressed close, Daehyun felt himself relax fully for the first time in a long time.

The small clock on the wall told Daehyun that it was an hour passed when Junhong would usually wake everyone up, likely because Junhong was currently too medicated to get himself up on time to do that job. Daehyun supposed if he was up, he might as well get the rest of them up too.

He tried to sit and pull away, but Junhong held him tightly. He tried again and Junhong pulled him closer. “No,” Junhong mumbled, still struggling with even simple words.

“I’m not running away, Junnie,” Daehyun assured, even if he was not sure that was why Junhong was not cooperating. “I’m just going to go wake the others up.”

“No,” Junhong repeated.

“Will that ‘no’ become a ‘yes’ if I take you with me?” Daehyun asked. Junhong nodded against his shoulder. “Alright, sleepyhead, let’s go then.” He sat, and then pulled Junhong up to sit as well.

“Dae’yu—” Junhong said as Daehyun pulled away to stand. He figured it was just another whine, until Junhong spoke again. “Some...times… yeah… yeah… no…”

It took a second for Daehyun to understand. “You’re answering my questions from earlier?” He clarified. Junhong nodded. “I’m sorry, Junnie.” They sat in silence for a couple moments, with Daehyun staring at Junhong who refused to look back at him, before he actually bothered to walk to the other side of the bed and get Junhong standing and leaning on him.

Maybe he would be okay. He wouldn’t know for sure until his heat passed.

 

Daehyun’s skin felt warm and his mind, empty. It had only been three days, but the full force of his preheat had hit him, and it made him feel like a zombie. The members all took turns caring for him, and it felt so good and simple that he was near numb.

They rarely did more than cuddle with him, but their hands in his hair or their arms around him felt blindingly good. Once in awhile, he would ask them to kiss him, and his lips would tingle with pleasure as they touched. After they pulled away, he always struggled not to follow for more.

He curled up to Yongguk’s side the first chance he got, eyes closed and breath steady as his alpha held him close and pet his hair. Daehyun ended up on his lap, with his head on Yongguk’s chest and his arms around his shoulders. Yongguk hummed softly as he held him, helping to make Daehyun feel more at ease. “How do you feel?” Yongguk asked quietly.

“Good.” Daehyun mumbled back.

“Any pain? Are you cold?” Yongguk asked him.

“No, I only feel good,” Daehyun assured.

Yongguk kissed the top of his head. “I’m really glad you decided to stay, Daehyun. The betas are too.” Daehyun smiled, but he did not reply. This place didn’t quite feel like home, but at least it wasn’t ruined. It wasn’t scary.

A shiver went down his spine at the thought of his old house.

“Are you alright?” Yongguk noticed right away. “Is something wrong?”

“I just—” Daehyun gulped. “I was just thinking about my old house. I don’t know why it popped into my head, but it did.”

“You don’t need to worry about seeing it ever again.” Yongguk assured him. “Himchan and I went and burned it down, remember?” Daehyun nodded against him. “We can trade the territory away for more area around us, if you want. Then you won’t even need to think about it.”

“Yes, please.” Daehyun breathed.

“After your heat then.” Yongguk promised. “I’m not sure I want any of us leaving the house for too long while you’re like this, but once it’s passed, Himchan and I will get to work on trading it away.”

Daehyun shivered a little again at the mention of his heat.

“Are you feeling scared about your heat at all? You can always change your mind if it’s too scary for you.”

“I’m okay for now,” Daehyun replied. “If… If when it happens and you all have me, and I decide it hurts too much and want to stop, will you get mad? Will you hit me?”

Yongguk stiffened, suddenly, and Daehyun got worried. He was pulled suddenly, until he was face to face with Yongguk. “Daehyun, you don’t think we would actually hit you, do you?”

Daehyun gulped and looked away.

“It’s really important to me that you know that we won’t hurt you, ever, in any situation. You’re safe here. You’re safe to say ‘no’ when you don’t want to do something, to back out of something if it hurts or if you don’t like it, to change your mind, anything. We aren’t going to hit you. We aren’t going to hurt you. And, most of all, we aren’t going to punish you if you don’t want to have sex. What matters most to me— to all of us, is that you’re happy.”

Daehyun gulped. Tears came to his eyes without reason.

“You’re safe here.” Yongguk repeated. “We’re never going to hurt you, ever. You’re our pack, our Daehyun, and that means the only thing we’re ever going to do to you is try to make you happy.” His fingers trailed over the healing bite marks on Daehyun’s arm. Daehyun buried his face back into Yongguk’s shoulder and sobbed. “It’s okay, Daehyun. You’re okay. You’re safe now. If you change your mind at any point, that’s okay. If there’s something you don’t want to do, we won’t do it. I promised you that before you joined us, Daehyun, it’s not going to change now that you have.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Are you happy?_

Daehyun whined, low in his throat, and writhed a bit on the bed. He was impatient and needy as he waited for his pack members to finish filling into Yongguk’s bedroom, where they would all be spending Daehyun’s heat.

It was terrifying given how often pack members used to beat him for sleeping with the others in his old pack, as if he was willing too. If they were all going to see each other in the act, wouldn’t it make the jealousy worse?

Himchan was petting his hair, and it took more or less everything Daehyun had in him not to beg for them. His heats had never felt this way before. He was used to them feeling cold, painful, scary, even before his pack members came to him, but instead he felt the opposite. He was so warm, his whole body flushed with the heat pumping through it, and he felt loose and languid, ready to be filled. The more of his pack that came in, the more comfortable and safe he felt.

Daehyun groaned when Yongguk came in, and his face reddened in embarrassment. It wasn’t fair for alphas to smell so good, nor was it fair for Yongguk to drive all his thoughts to how much he needed to be had.

“Daehyunnie,” Youngjae cooed as he crawled above him. Daehyun looked up with lidded eyes. Youngjae’s body felt good against his. He wanted to move, to feel the friction between them. “I brought you an antianxiety pill like the one you took a couple days ago, do you want it?” Daehyun thought about it. Most of him was too far gone, too caught up in the feelings of his heat and the comfort of being near his pack, but that one conscious part of his brain was terrified. He nodded. It would be easier if he felt even a little bit calmer.

Daehyun arched a little when Youngjae shifted against him, their lower halves brushing as Youngjae reached for the pill. His fingers ran against Daehyun’s lips after he fed it to him, and Daehyun let out another low whine. “Please,” he begged, “please, I can’t wait anymore.”

They pulled him slightly, each with their hands on him, until he was up off the bed enough for Yongguk to slip his legs under Daehyun’s head, like a pillow. Youngjae pressed a warm kiss to his lips once he was laid back down with his shirt off. He was confused that it didn’t seem like the Alpha would take him first, but Youngjae’s warm kisses brought fire to his lips. Without even realizing it, his legs spread and Youngjae’s slotted himself in between.

It felt good to have something warm between his thighs, and even better when Youngjae’s hips pressed down against his and Daehyun could feel his cock through his pants. He supposed his heat hormones were enough to get them all hard on their own.

Himchan had settled at the end of Yongguk’s legs, playing with Daehyun’s hair as he watched Youngjae kiss him. Jongup and Junhong were sitting not far off on the massive bed, and when Daehyun snuck a peek at them, he found them to look nearly entranced by their display. “Daehyunnie,” it was Himchan that called him next, “is it alright if Youngjae goes first? He knows the stretching bit the best. We want to make sure this feels good.”

Daehyun didn’t care what order they went in as long as one of them got in him soon. “I don’t mind,” he breathed when Youngjae pulled his lips away. He chased after them as they went, but Youngjae pulled back too far for Daehyun to reach him.

Junhong crawled closer, until he was laying down next to the two of them, and pressed his lips to Daehyun’s. A little spike of anxiety went through him since the pill hadn’t taken effect yet. Would Youngjae be angry? Hands slid down his bare sides slowly, pulling our shivers in their wake. They pulled in, pressing lightly into his stomach, and Daehyun tried to shift so they would be just a bit lower. Lightly, almost experimentally, Youngjae began to palm him through his pants. Daehyun broke his kiss with Junhong to whimper. If it weren’t for how gone he was, he’d be embarrassed to be so needy.

“He’s reacting even more than I thought he would,” Himchan mumbled, still playing with Daehyun’s hair as Junhong kissed him and Youngjae stroked him.

Junhong pulled away from the kiss then, to the tune of another needy whine. “Daehyunnie’s pretty like this,” he asserted softly.

Daehyun couldn’t fight the sudden panic. He winced. He didn’t want to be pretty anymore.

“When is Daehyunnie pretty?” Youngjae clarified, as if pointing out Daehyun’s sudden discomfort to Junhong and insisting he try to alleviate it.

“When he looks like he’s happy and comfortable.” Junhong replied, “and when he’s surrounded by pack, where he’s safe.” Daehyun relaxed some, and Junhong’s lips pressed to his again. He wrapped his arms around Junhong’s shoulders.

Youngjae was slow in getting him out of his clothes, letting Junhong distract Daehyun from his nervousness about the situation until it was apparent that Daehyun was getting too needy.

“Please,” Daehyun whined, “please, please, please, I need you.” He begged. “I need you, filling me up, Youngjae. Please hurry.” He was shushed by Yongguk, taking Himchan’s job of petting his hair, as all the betas gathered behind Youngjae to watch.

If he listened close enough, he could hear Youngjae whispering each step with explanations to them.

A cold, wet finger prodded at his slick entrance, and Daehyun groaned and shifted around as it ringed around his hole a couple times before dipping in. Just the tip, and at first he reacted with a bit of nervousness, only to be calmed again by Yongguk.

“If it hurts and you want to stop, just tell us,” Yongguk reminded, his voice low as Youngjae’s finger dipped in just a bit farther that time. Daehyun made himself relax. “We can stop and just cuddle if it’s too much.”

“I want more,” Daehyun replied in a quiet, desperate plea. He was terrified, but he trusted them.

Youngjae was slow in stretching him. One finger pumped in and out of his slick entrance as the betas remained transfixed. That is, until Jongup decided it was his own turn to kiss Daehyun, in a flurry of heated kisses at made Daehyun burn.

He barely noticed when Youngjae slipped in the next finger, as the hormones in combination with the kissing and touching had left him more or less out of it.

Daehyun nearly screamed when, right before Youngjae slid the third finger in, his warm lips wrapped around Daehyun’s length, swallowing him down. He was blinded, suddenly, overwhelmed by the pleasure. It was to the point that he could not kiss Jongup back, even if the younger continued to kiss him.

He writhed under the two of them, under the whispers between Himchan, Junhong, and Yongguk of how lovely he looked and sounded in those moments.

Youngjae pulled his lips off Daehyun’s cock right before he hit something inside him, and Daehyun lost it. Nothing had ever felt so good in his life and he was shaking as he came down, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes from how good it had felt. They both pulled off him, to his dismay, when he had finished. He was still hard, but his stomach was covered in white stripes that stuck to his belly in unfamiliar ways. A wet cloth ran gently against his skin, cleaning him off before Youngjae gained his attention again.

“Daehyun, is it alright if I push in now?” Youngjae asked softly. It was good he took the pill. He was too calm to freak out. Youngjae hovered above him, his body pressed up against Daehyun’s, warm and heavy in all the right ways.

“Please,” He breathed.

It didn’t hurt. Not the slightest bit. Youngjae slowly filled him, and despite being arguably bigger than most of his previous pack members, it really didn’t hurt. His body naturally accommodated Youngjae’s and once he was fully seated, he felt so good that it became overwhelming. Tears came without reason to his eyes, and he had to wrap his legs around Youngjae to keep him from trying to pull off.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” The chorus from all of them came as Daehyun cried.

He cried harder, knowing they were all so concerned. “It feels so good,” he said, “so, so good. I feel so full and it’s so amazing. It doesn't even hurt.” He kept repeating, trying to assure them that he was alright, until he was shushed with sweet kisses from each of them.

Youngjae moved carefully, just a little at first and more and more as time passed. He wouldn’t move faster or harder until Daehyun asked for it,  but they reached a point where he was pounding into the compliant omega below him as Daehyun let out desperate, needy moans. Nothing in the world could compare to the feeling that was being full like that. The friction between them made him feel high, and senseless begging for more came from his lips without thought.

Eventually, they hushed him with Himchan’s feverish kisses to his lips. He worried, for a moment once more, that Youngjae would be jealous, only to find Junhong and he were engaged in their own lip lock as he pounded into Daehyun.

He came with a scream of Youngjae’s name, but his need did not wither for a second.

Jongup was next, with Daehyun’s legs thrown of his shoulders as he pounded into him with enough force to make the bed hit against the wall. Daehyun still begged for more, filled with so much need for his pack to take him as their own. His body for so long had belonged to a pack that abused it, he wanted nothing more than for his pack to take him and make him theirs.

Fingers trailed against the bite marks on his forearm, and the thoroughly exhausted Youngjae would continue to run his fingers over the marks until Junhong decided he would rather lay on his back and have Daehyun bounce on top of him when it was his turn.

Daehyun quickly learned their different styles, and learned to love each one. Youngjae was attentive and teasing. Daehyun had a feeling that if he hadn’t been so desperate and the other members hadn’t been waiting, Youngjae would have spent hours bringing him on the brink of the edge, but never quite letting him meet his release. Jongup was fluid and powerful. He knew how to take up more space, how to make Daehyun feel small and flexible. It seemed like he already knew Daehyun’s body and all of its weakest points, using them to turn Daehyun’s pleas into garbled, incoherent begging. Junhong was playful and energetic. He seemed a bit more nervous than the others, but he used his energy to his advantage, and had Daehyun giggling even when he was near unconscious from the pleasure of it all.

Himchan came next, with Daehyun resting back on Yongguk again and their foreheads pressed together. Himchan didn’t break eye contact for a second while they were together, and whispered hundreds of sweet nothings that Daehyun needed to hear.

Yongguk came last, pressing a warm and slow kiss to Daehyun’s lips before he flipped them over. He insisted on stretching Daehyun again, even if he was already slick and open, and begging for Yongguk to hurry. The betas had been amazing, but Daehyun needed his alpha more than he had needed anything before.

“Alpha, please," he begged. That name which was rarely used by the members felt right on his lips as he pleaded. “Please fill me up, Alpha. I want to be full, please. I need you.” He grew more incoherent the longer he waited, propped up on his hands and knees as Yongguk stretched him until Daehyun was a needy mess, crying through his pleas because he needed Yongguk so much and the teasing was only making him more desperate.

The other members watched them with sleepy eyes as Yongguk pushed in, and Daehyun screamed just at the feeling. His old alpha had always hurt the worst, so it make sense that Yongguk would feel the best of all of them. “I told you,” Yongguk said to the others, “our Daehyunnie needs an alpha to feel whole. Omegas are wired to want us more than anything. Isn’t that right, Daehyunnie?”

Daehyun’s brain was too fuzzy to understand anything Yongguk had said, and only five seconds later, he had forgotten every word. But, he would agree to anything if it meant Yongguk would move. “Yes, Alpha,” he replied compliantly. “Please, please, please move, Alpha.”

Yongguk complied, pounding into him from behind. His thrusts were hard and fast, and Daheyun struggled to support himself on his hands when each thrust rocked him forcefully forward.

In that moment that Yongguk hit that spot inside him, the one all of the others had found that left Daehyun a screaming mess, Daehyun fell forward. It felt too good, and he was too blinded by it to support his weight on his arms any longer. All he could do was scream out in pleasure, begging his alpha for more, with his face pressed into the bed and his ass in the air.

He had become shameless, needy, and nearly cried in relief when Yongguk’s knot began to swell inside him until he felt so full that he might burst. Yongguk could no longer pull out, only rut into him until he saw stars.

Yongguk released inside him shortly after Daehyun made a mess of himself, which was tiredly cleaned up by one of the members before they laid there, cuddled together on the bed, and passed out. It wouldn’t be the last time Daehyun would need them all to fuck him until they had all passed out, but he would never tire of the feelings of safety, pack, comfort, and belonging that swelled within him as they fell asleep in a pile.

Nothing felt better than the relief. It really hadn’t hurt. They really wouldn’t hurt him. Finally, he was safe. Youngjae had even asked before giving Daehyun his pill, and Daehyun took that to mean he could trust they’d never drug him without his permission again.

 

“Yongguk?” Youngjae knocked on his alpha’s door, but did not wait for an answer before opening it. “Jongup and Junhong took Daehyun out with them on their walk," he informed calmly. Yongguk stared at him from his desk, waiting for him to continue. “I figured now would be the right time to go through the medication changes this week.”

“You’re probably right,” Yongguk agreed. “What’s going on then?”

Youngjae’s eyes dropped to his clipboard. “Medical records officially have been locked away in my desk, with all things relevant to Daehyun in a hidden panel. Chances of him finding anything out about the past couple of weeks are a near zero.”

“Good. If possible, we should keep him out of your room as much as possible, but I’m assuming you locked the key to the desk in the medical cabinet in the library, which only you carry the key for anyway. The less the bitch knows the better.” Youngjae quickly agreed. “What’s next?”

“As of today, we’ll be lowering your hormone dosage back to normal since all meetings with other alphas are over. Your speech doesn’t seem as impaired as it has been in the past, but you should still find it easier to talk as the hormones leave your system. We’ll be lowering the dosages of the pills we use to take care of the side effects as well, so if you get any headaches or nausea please tell Jongup or I immediately.”

“Will you be raising my dosage of the sleeping pill again?” Yongguk asked.

“We’re going to try keeping you on the same dosage for now,” Youngjae replied. “If your sleep patterns turn into anything similar to Jongup’s, we’ll raise the dosage again. Outside of the normal vitamins, that’s all for you. Moving on, Himchan’s on the vitamins and his various placebo pills. He’s seems to get better the moment he thinks he’s taking medicine, so I’m going to argue his illness was leftover anxiety from the chaos of the past weeks.”

“That’s a relief then. Next?”

“Jongup and Junhong have elected to raise my anti-anxiety medicine dosage by a quarter increment to account for the stress of taking care of Daehyun as well, and I’ll be going off my sleeping pills now that Junhong’s relapse has fully ended. Otherwise, I’ll stay on my usual vitamins and anti-psychotics, and nothing else will be altered.”

Youngjae paused for Yongguk to confirm his approval, then continued on. “Jongup’s flashbacks haven’t gone away yet, so we’re raising the sleeping pill's, the anti-anxiety pills', and the anti-psychotics' dosages by a half increment each and Himchan will be staying in his room with access to emergency sleeping pills as needed. We’ve also prepped Daehyun for the possibility that Jongup will wake up screaming, and put in the necessary precautions for if he goes rage mode again.”

“We haven’t seen him panic like that since he was twelve,” Yongguk reminded.

“Yes, but we’re talking about a boy that killed two alphas at nine years old. Even if it’s been years, it’s better safe than sorry with all of you.”

Yongguk sighed, “agreed. Next?”

“Junhong’s officially going back on his normal meds tomorrow. I won’t bother to list them all, but we are raising the dosages of some of the anti-hunger medicines in hopes of eliminating the feeling from him overall. We’ll have to monitor him closely to make sure his is eating enough each day, but it will be easier to keep him out of the kitchen. Daehyun’s also been fully informed on how to help us take care of Junhong, so hopefully with all of us watching over him, we’ll be able to prevent another wendigo-wonder-boy resurfacing.”

“If he relapses again, I’m going to ban him from the kitchen.” Yongguk insisted. “I’m starting to think granting him that privilege was a mistake.”

“That leaves the bitch, then.” Youngjae continued, without a thought to Yongguk’s words. “We’ve been able to follow the original plan near exactly, start to finish, and his heat has finally fully faded. Luckily, I convinced him to agree to having vitamins put into his food. If we’re caught in the act of medicating him, we’ll be able to claim it’s just vitamins and he won’t suspect a thing.”

“And what if the bitch suddenly decides he doesn’t want that anymore?” Yongguk asked.

“Well, that’s the beauty of the medications he’ll be on. In addition to the anti-anxiety pills so he can stop panicking all the time, and the heat-regularizers so that his heat will come every 24 days and last exactly 7 days, we’ll be putting him on low dosages of the pill my alpha gave me. As we discussed a couple weeks ago, the pill will make it hard for him to object to anything so long as someone is touching him, and he’ll be so desperate and needy for affection that he’ll ignore more or less anything he doesn’t like about us. This should neutralize any urge he may have to fight us, make it easier for us to convince him to open his legs, and lower his flight risk to non-existent.”

Yongguk didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure it’ll work? He’s strong-willed and the goal is to get him to be completely submissive. I don’t want him fighting us or objecting to anything anymore. I mean really, we can’t have him going around thinking he has a brain that actually works or true free will, can we? It’s dangerous to let an omega be like that.”

“Don’t worry,” Youngjae smiled, “all those silly little thoughts of his will vanish with this pill. All he’ll be able to think of is proper omega things, like pack, warmth, affection, and sex. Any time he tries to argue, a hand on his shoulder will empty his pretty little head and we’ll be back to having him how we want him. It’s good he was worth all of the effort, isn’t it? But he’s such a pretty bitch, I’d be sad to have to let him go.”

“It really would have been a shame. Although, maybe for the next bitch we take, we might want to pick one that wants to stay.”

“Don’t be silly, Alpha,” Youngjae replied affectionately, “if they wanted to stay, you wouldn’t want them.”

 

Daehyun’s head was filled with only mushy things as he spent his first week post-heat wrapped up in the members of his pack. Around them, he felt warm and safe. That little bit of desperation for attention and how he’d melt when he received it had not faded, but Daehyun was starting to think that was just how omegas in good packs were meant to be.

He sat on Yongguk’s lap, eyes closed as he rested his head on Yongguk’s shoulder. It felt nice when they were all gathered like this, in the same room but doing their own things. Jongup and Junhong had taken to the floor, resting with their backs against everyone else’s legs as they played games together. Yongguk was scribbling out something onto a notepad, probably poetry, but Daehyun knew his alpha was not ready to share it yet, so he would not try to read it. Himchan was reading on one side of him, his side pressing a warm and familiar weight into Daehyun’s and their heads occasionally brushing as they both rested on Yongguk. Youngjae was on the other side, reading as well. He held onto Daehyun’s hand tightly, his thumb rubbing soft circles into the back of Daehyun’s hand. Occasionally, he would steal glances at the others. At one point, he had stolen a little kiss from Daehyun.

Daehyun couldn’t fight off those pleased, mushy feelings, but maybe he didn’t want to. He had found a pack that would never hurt him. He had found a pack that would never hit him. He had found a pack that knew how to make his heats and any other time he was had into something blindingly pleasant, to the point that he almost constantly wanted more.

Daehyun had lucked out, in his mind. He didn’t think he could ever truly, wholly appreciate how lucky he had been that of all of the places he could have ended up, he had ended up with them.

Youngjae had recently asked him if it was alright to put vitamins in his food, and Daehyun was relieved to know that that truly, in his mind, meant that the only thing that he did not like about this pack was over. They would not drug him without permission again.

At least, not as far as he would know or suspect.

Their bodies were warm against his. He felt loose and languid, and hazy like he wasn’t quite there. It was so easy to just let them take care of him, and to let them take what they wanted from him.

Yongguk’s fingers trailed over the newly made scars on Daehyun’s arms, marking him as theirs, and Daehyun felt a swell of warmth at the feeling of belonging.

It occurred to him what he sounded like. He was just another omega that let a pack have him when they pleased, rewarded them when they worked hard, and thanked them with his body. He was just another omega that was so wrapped up in silly, mushy thoughts of pack and pups that nothing else really came to mind. And worst of all, he was just another omega that let himself be owned by a pack, and most of all, an Alpha. The marks on his arms sealed it, he belonged to them.

Daehyun was everything he had hated.

But, he was happy.

His attention turned again to the front door of the house, which had only a week prior stood over him like a foreboding symbol of doom that he had to be pulled through. He found the inside of the door much more welcoming. That door which kept his pack in and kept out others, that door that marked the place where he was surrounded by the five people he could trust — it wasn’t so scary from the inside.

The door stood not as a bad omen, foretelling the horrors this house would bring him. It was not a door leading to another house of terrors. It was the door that welcomed him home.

_Home._

_Finally he was home._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading. Please leave me a comment with any thoughts you have!~ Constructive criticism is also welcome^^


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